Skintight: Book Three of Sidetrack Series
by Rina K. Fenderson
Summary: Sequel to Killswitch: Cal has some experience with memory repression; he's gotten pretty good at it, what with all the other mayhem in his life distracting him. So what happens when all his enemies are lying in wait, leaving him stuck with memories better left alone? What happens when his new enemy, Grimm, decides to take the family he's tried to erased from him?
1. Foreword

**SKINTIGHT, A FOREWORD**

**HELLO READERS!**

I don't usually bother with much of a foreword other than a disclaimer, but I felt this story needed a bit more. First off, I would like to thank everyone who has been following me through Crossfire and Killswitch. Your comments and views are appreciated more than words can express.

**USUAL DISCLAIMER**

The usual disclaimer does apply**. I don't own Rob Thurman's characters or conceptualize world, nor do I obtain any profit from this work. **This story is the third book in my series. It takes place **after Killswitch** (**and Thuman's **_**Doubletake**_). It is highly recommended to read the previous novels both for Thurman's published series and my fanfic series.

**THE INTERWEAVING CONUNDRUM**

Now onto the main reason I took up a page for this. I would like to warn that this story is going to be veering off down its own path this time. Previously, I've tried my best to interweave my little side plots between Rob Thurman's genius novels. Crossfire took place between _Roadkill_ and _Blackout_, Killswitch between _Blackout_ and _Doubletake_. In Killswitch I even tried to set it up that Cal decided to erase any and all memories he had regarding Cassie and Dante; it was a flimsy excuse, but it was an attempt. Well, while **Skintight does take place after **_**Doubletake**_**, I will ****not**** be weaving in to transition into **_**Slashback**_–obviously, since it won't be out until March (yay, March!).

There was no way for me to continue on with the plot I wanted while maintaining Thurman's vision, mainly due to the fact that certain characters I created will be sticking around and that the Auphe are too awesome a villain not to keep around. This doesn't mean I'm not going to be continuing with my own plotlines; in fact I have two twists swirling around in my head for another fic. This does, however, mean the creative interweaving ends here.

**MISTAKEN IDENTITIES & CREATIVE LICENSE**

That being said, you'll see more often (now that I'm giving myself the freedom) that I make up my own details of the world Thurman created. This started with the peris (making up their reproductive abilities, stuff about their wings, and the whole clan system), the Auphe (their 'culture' and continued existence), and the Vigil (their power, manipulation, and government funding) and it will happen a lot more. Sometimes…my creative decisions are made too quickly. For example: Ishiah leaves for Vegas in _Doubletake_. There is brief mention of it being like a peri military-type mission. Halfway through writing Skintight I finally decided to _look into_ Ishiah's Vegas trip and Tae (whom we also meet in _Doubletake_) and apparently their story is from the Trickster series, which I have yet to read (it's on my shelf I will get to it one day). So, yeah…this doesn't pan out the same way in Skintight…sorry. Please forgive me for this creative license.

So last, but not least, **thank you for the support and ENJOY!**


	2. Prologue - Golden Boy

SKINTIGHT

A Cal Leandros Novel

**GOLDEN BOY**

_Heaven doesn't want me and Hell's afraid I'll take over._

_I read that on a keychain dangling on a rack with many others equally glib or just plain tasteless. Tasteless to humans I had to assume because I didn't understand most of them. I didn't understand the one I slipped into my pocket as I walked away from the rack either, but it caught my eyes all the same. Maybe because Heaven was a word I had just learned and with it the polar opposite of Hell._

_Heaven doesn't want me. _

_The faithful sheep claimed it was paradise. Home to all those pure and virtuous that had perished from their life on Earth. Heaven didn't want me. Blood of the innocent on my hands, the venom of sin in my heart, and deep seeded thoughts of murdering my family dancing through my dreams. Heaven didn't seem like the right place for me, but Heaven also didn't seem too welcoming to any paien. I might have been wrong. I had been before. So I asked a priest._

_His flock said he was a good and kind man. He herded his sheep down the righteous path. And I watched him first, like many others. He didn't manipulate or sully his words like the others. He didn't instill the subliminal desire for money into the herds' minds so they bestowed onto him their riches. He believed in his idol of worship. He believed in Heaven. And if it was true and real, Heaven would want him. I watched him before I asked, before I even approached. A monster can never be too careful._

_He told me that Heaven would accept me if I absolved myself of my sins. He said Heaven was paradise and it would return to me all that I'd lost. I was a child of God and I could return to His arms._

_I tried not to laugh at him; I'd learned that was rude._

_Heaven didn't want me, but Hell did. Hell wanted me within its cold gray walls. Hell embraced me with claws and fetid anticipation. Hell didn't fear me taking over. It pleaded for me to take the throne. They demanded it, waited for it. I told the priest those very thoughts and many more that caused his tranquil expression to darken green with disgust and judgment he had been trying so hard to contain. I thanked him all the same for his time and the knowledge he shared. I appreciated the knowledge. They wanted me to obtain it. As much as I could. I left him casting prayers at my back, cursing the demons hounding me and pleading for my salvation._

_He didn't know I wasn't a child of God. I was a child of Hell. A fallen angel and a seething demon. A plague to humanity. I took with me the stolen keychain and a bible that still smelled of printer ink as I left his house of worship. They_ _would have been unhappy that I left the priest on his knees breathing and well, but I felt no need to kill him. He served a purpose and I might need to ask him questions again some day. He didn't call me thief when I took his book and didn't stop me, perhaps he hoped the scripture would save my battered soul. If one even existed within._

_I read through the book several times until the spine cracked and the pages smelled less like ink and more like shadows. I was curious for information and needed to expand my knowledge of the humans as They_ _demanded. I didn't understand much of it. The words were heavy and the prose bogged down with confusing imagery and lecture unnecessary to make its point. But more than that I didn't understand why some of it made sense._

_Monsters shouldn't agree with the virtues of God –an entity that shouldn't exist in a world as cold and torn and used as Earth. Monsters shouldn't want to enter Heaven to have that which was lost returned to them. A softly sung melody, warm, low, and comforting. A firm grip to the nape of the neck and the sensation of protection. Laughter…it echoed in my head like a ballad. Nothing like Their laughter. I knew what I wanted returned, but They didn't._

_They watched me read and learn and They applauded my ambition. I asked for more and They gave it. Their own history, or what little They knew of it, and the great expanse of knowledge They had of the world. At a certain age They brought me to this realm, sequester me away from the world I was trying to learn of. Then teachers. Many, many teachers, none of which were given long to teach. I learned from those teachers, paien and human alike, then killed them when commanded. Quickly, if allowed. Just because there was no Heaven for me didn't mean I had to deny it to others._

_Heaven didn't want me and Hell was afraid I'd take over._

_Well, right now I was Hell's Golden Boy. Right now, Hell thought me the perfect next king, but the more I learned of Earth and the paien and humans residing on the surface the more I felt the sins bubble within. The more I didn't want to lift my hand to strike, the more I resisted and took my punishment with sick satisfaction, the more I desired deeper effects of the heart, heat and head. I wanted it all; everything I learned I wanted as mine and found I couldn't take what wasn't physical. Yet I still wanted it and not from Them._

_I could best Them one day. I felt one day the blood on my hands would be Theirs. It was a comforting thought. I would be king of Hell. Just as They wanted. Just as They would regret._


	3. Chapter 1 - Cal

**CHAPTER ONE**

**CAL**

I was told once that certain things didn't exist in our world. Santa, the Tooth Fairy, ghosts, zombies, God, Satan…the list was actually a lot shorter than most humans knew. For instance, if a human looked at me all they would see was a twenty-something guy that was a little too pale, a little shifty, and a whole lotta dangerous. They wouldn't know why they saw a killer in my gray eyes or danger in my posture, or why they avoided me all together. They wouldn't know that I was half a monster that they could never comprehend. Maybe more than half at this point.

Regardless, right now I felt like I was in the same boat as them. I was raised to disbelieve until it was flesh and blood and bleeding in front of me. Yet, I was still faithfully following my big brother through tunnels hidden from most New Yorkers hunting a freakin' dragon. A dragon. That one used to be on my short list of non-existent, until I saw one tearing through an underground _paien_ bazaar. Saved us in a manner at the time, but now she was causing too much damage to the foundation of some supernatural mogul's brownstone. I didn't ask Niko what kind of supernatural mogul. All I knew was he was a supernatural mogul with a lot of money and little patience.

That was where my brother and I came in. Guns-for-higher, private detectives, purveyors of the world at large, whatever title we were hawking at the time. Someone paid us to get rid of the dragon, or the wyvern which was what Niko had called it, and that was what we were going to do. It distracted well enough from things I didn't want to think about. Like a certain douchebag of a monster that like to call me 'brother' and suspiciously hadn't come out to play in a while. Figured he was off trying to pop out a few more batches of his succubae-Auphe army before he faced off with me again; not that such sat well to begin with. The world had enough abominations running around in it and Grimm was determined to fill it with even more.

"Careful, there's…" my brother's whisper trailed off when he glanced back at me. Mostly because he had no doubt been warning me about the pile of shit that currently squished wetly under my boot. I grimaced and glanced down. There was no way that was a wyvern load. That beast had been much too big. The pile was runny and laced with what smelled like blood, but much too small for anything bigger than a human. My suspicions were realized when I saw the half-eaten dead body propped against the curve of the tunnel. Ah, expelled fluids, probably the grossest thing about death.

I moved off to scrape my shoe on the other side of the tunnel. Grumbling my annoyances under my breath. Niko said nothing and waited with the patience of a saint for me to get enough of the rank smelling shit off my sole. I'm sure he heard my complaints; he always heard my complaints he just rarely heeded them. I didn't like the sewer tunnels because it always smelled down here and my nose was a lot finer tuned than Niko's –about the only thing about me that was finer tuned than Niko. I hated when we had to hunt. I was much fonder of the prey charging us so I could shoot it and go home to prime time television before I had to haul my ass off to work. And lastly, I was secretly nervous every time we went on a new job.

Not nervous about completing it. Most of the time our jobs were too easy to break a sweat during. No, it had nothing to do with our capabilities and everything to do with my control. For the most part I had control; for the first time in my life maybe. I wasn't human and I was a little less than Auphe when it came to murder and mayhem, but ever since I'd lost…no, ever since I'd met my dark half on the physical plane, I was beginning to see it more and more of the darkness in myself. Grimm was psychotic and delusional and most of the time stupid, but he was something I could easily become.

_Something I could easily become better than,_ a niggling voice whispered in my ear. Tempting, always tempting.

Every life I took, innocent or deserving, I felt the Auphe within. The human part of me could barely keep it in check anymore. Honestly, the only reason I hadn't gone ape-shit and hunted Grimm down for the sport of it was because of Niko.

I didn't want to see the brother than raised me with love and loyalty no matter what I did or what I was, look upon me with betrayal and disappointment. Hm, I guess that was pretty human of me, maybe there was a little of that left.

"We going much farther, because if we are I'm calling Promise and telling her to DVR my show."

Niko shook his head with a half smirk. "It wouldn't be much farther if you kept up." I sighed and started after him again. "And keep your voice down. Wyverns have incredible hearing."

On cue, mama dragon woke up. I cringed and covered my ears as her roar filled the cavern. Small tunnel and big scream served for a very small earthquake of noise. Once the Dinosaur howl was done, I realized the earthquake was her barreling through the tunnels toward us. I pulled out my Desert Eagle and aimed it at the darkness, waiting for my prey to enter the imaginary crosshairs. "Between the eyes?"

"No, armored scales. Under the chin through the brain."

"Got it." I had explosive rounds tonight. Figured turning the wyvern's brain into mush would be the best tactic to get this over with quickly. She came down upon us quickly, actually had her wings spread to glide even in the limited space around us. She wasn't stopping either; this crazy cross between a snake, a horned iguana with two legs, and something else that flew on veined wings. Her tail slashed back and forth behind her, spraying concrete rocks and dust everywhere. I dropped onto my back so she soared over me, letting loose a few bullets. Lots of practice over the years got one under her chin, but saw it bury into the ceiling of the tunnel at an angle. It probably only caught the roof of her mouth.

I gated, traveled farther back the way we came –ten feet back with her angling toward the ground as she shook her head in pain. She would hit directly on top of me. I shot another two rounds in my second try and felt sick satisfaction when her brains followed the bullet to the ceiling this time. Then I gated back to my original spot, spinning with my gun raise to make sure she didn't turn around like something undead to snap those vicious looking teeth at me.

She crashed to the ground with a baleful moan. The ground shuddered under her weight. It brought me to one knee, but she was down and quite quickly dead. Shame. She was actually kinda awesome looking all things considered.

_Lousy prey though, didn't even give much of a fight._

I holstered my gun, ignoring my snarky inner voice, and tapped my shit-covered shoe to her barbed tail. In the sunlight she might even be a pretty green, like a scarab beetle. In this light there was little iridescence to it and her wings looked the shade of a new bruise.

"You think we should take some scales or teeth? Might be able to sell them on the black market," I teased. When I didn't get an answer I glanced back at Niko. My brother stood four feet from me, his hand slowly going through the motion of sheathing a katana he didn't even have to use. His olive skin looked almost pale in the darkness and the dark blond braid that trailed down his back moon white. On his face was that expression I'd been avoiding. "What? You upset that it was that easy?" I snorted; me too. "I'd think you'd be proud of your little brother, the dragon slayer. I took her out without even emptying a clip."

Niko didn't say anything. He just took in a calming breath and walked right by me. It was the gates then. He hated it when I used gates. Which I did more often now that I could do so without causing my nose to bleed profusely or my heart to explode. He accepted it when I utilized my Auphe inheritance to save my life, tolerated it when it was to save his or our friends' lives, but for an easy kill like that wyvern…he was pissed.

If there was one thing my brother would never accept, it was that his little brother was not the misunderstood human he believed I was. I was an abomination; just like Grimm and his pitiful offspring. I was part evil incarnate and that part was steadfastly taking over any part of me that might have had the potential to be a pure and innocent. He didn't believe this. He didn't accept this. And he never would. I was pretty sure he could find me huddled among a pile of human corpses covered in their blood with a severed leg in my mouth and he still wouldn't call me by my full name. He still wouldn't believe I was the monster, Caliban.

_Whatever. He would only believe if he were among those corpses. _

I wouldn't let that happen. I would take my own life before I went that far down the road of malicious cruelty.

I followed after Niko, more than aware that when he touched a hand to the wyvern's horned skull he was apologizing on some level for taking the animal's life. This wasn't a job he relished taking. He probably only agreed to it since there were human lives at stake; the homeless were mysteriously becoming scarcer now that the wyvern was sequestered off into these tunnels, limiting her hunting grounds. Nik wasn't religious by any feat of imagination, but he had his own ninja code and the wyvern was a kill not to be celebrated. And here I thought I'd done a good job.

The night air was beyond chilled. Winter was in full swing on the island of Manhattan. I was actually surprised that the puddles of grim and piss weren't frozen to the bottoms of the tunnels down there. Outside the world was ice and white. A recent snow fall hadn't been on the ground long enough to be tainted by the smog and pollution of the city. Well, other than on the streets and in the ditches; there it was the same disgusting murky brown it was every year.

I huddled into my jacket more for the mental comfort of it than to stave the cold. Winter didn't bother me much and it certainly helped us when we had to wear thick coats to hide all our weapons. I didn't like the cold. It reminded me of…things kept locked away in my head that were better off locked away. Keeping my head ducked, I followed Niko's footprints in the fresh snow. It hadn't been here when we went underground, but I could still see our trail from earlier. He hadn't said a word to me and it was beginning to grate.

"Niko," I called, getting fed up. He kept on. I watched his braid swing back and forth between his shoulder blades for a few seconds, remembering the time he'd hacked it all off in symbolic remorse for my 'death'. Damn, that was five years ago, at least. I stopped short. "Nik."

Niko slowed after a few more steps. I could see the air condense in a white fog around his mouth as he sighed. "Why?" He wasn't asking why I was calling out to him or why I stopped. He was asking why I chose to gate. Maybe even why I wanted to.

"Because it's natural," I replied. I trudged up to him on the hill he had been scaling. Just above us, a busy city road was alight with headlights and fast food signs. No one could hear us over the sounds of the city, even if they tried. "Because someone once told me that I should use every skill I have to survive in this world and not to be ashamed of who I am."

That hurt him. I could see it in the little pucker of his light eyebrows. His skin was darker here, contrasted by the blue hue of the winter night. His long Rom nose was turning pink in the cold; I imagined mine was bright red. Those were his words. His lessons that he probably never thought I took to heart. I tucked my hands in the pockets of my jacket and waited for him to speak. Despite all my misgivings I felt it when I disappointed my brother.

"Cal, I hate it when you used your gates needlessly," he muttered. "You've sped down that road before—"

"I didn't have control before," I countered. I understood his reservations though. The last time I'd overused my gates I had hyper-extended something in my sanity. I'd eviscerated a deer with my bare hands and feasted on its raw innards with a pack of werewolves. It scared Niko. It scared him because he thought he would lose his only family. Truly, his only family now considering our mother had been long dead from an Auphe trailer bomb and his father had been sacrificed to a metal golem named Janus just a few months ago. Nevermind that we did the sacrificing without remorse for the grade-A bastard or that we were probably both a little more than relived when our drunk, whoring mother went up in smoke. I was still his only family. Maybe not all he had to live for anymore, but I was still a pretty big reason.

He was dwelling in the past though. I had control now. Once I accepted my monster-hood. Once I had played a game or two with my pale-haired doppelganger, I gained it. When I re-gained my memories last year, I gained control over everything within me. Not to say it wouldn't blow up in my face one day, but right now…it felt right.

"Nik, I promise you I know what I'm doing," I told him. Even gripped his shoulder to show that brotherly affection we weren't very prone to showing. "And because I have gone off the deep end before I know the warning signs. The sky is clear right now. I promise."

Niko sighed through his nose this time and smacked my hand off his shoulder. It wasn't out of anger, I could tell that much. His mouth twitched at the corner to show a hesitant smile. "Then for my sake, only use it when you have to. Otherwise all the other martial skills I painstakingly taught you will deteriorate before my eyes."

I snorted. He might not have completely meant that, but he was right. The more I used my gates the less I actually fought. "I'll save it for life and death situations then," I offered. "Or Grimm…or getting to work because that walk is just murder." I dodged when Niko swiped at me again, but wasn't able to evade his kick to the back of my knee. Within seconds we were sparing. It felt good. It felt normal. The sting of his hits, the surge of adrenaline when I balked from his blade, and the satisfaction when I actually managed to make contact against him…

It was the kind of game I was supposed to like, not the sick gambles of life and blood that amused me and Grimm. And I did love it, because, like Grimm, with my brother there was sometimes blood. There was a vast difference there, even if I didn't feel it over the pulses of battle excitement as Nik tore up the embankment farther into Battery Park with me at his heels. It was the main difference between Grimm and me; I was loved. Monster and all. I was loved and there was nothing anyone, even myself, could do about it. Take that mom and dad and shove it up your dead asses while you're at it.

Back at the apartment, I took a shower before work. After my stint in the unforgiving chilly wasteland of Tumulus when I was fourteen, the cold never really got to me save for the memories, but getting your face shoved into a snow drift would make anyone a little uncomfortable. The spontaneous sparing match had been a means for us to let off steam. Not only because our job had been less than satisfying on the challenge level, but because life had been quiet lately in general. It left Niko and me a little on edge. Waiting for something to come crashing down. Waiting for Grimm to show his half human face. Concoct some plan to unleash his mutated offspring onto the world. His precious Second Coming. Second coming of the Auphe race, at least that was what he called it.

It made me laugh. Not only were the Bae a far cry from their vicious pasty-hided predecessors, but the original Auphe were still alive and kicking. I never told Grimm about that. It was too amusing to listen to him rage on and on about how he would take over the world in their stead and how they were nothing compared to his discarded ass and he would prove to their graves he was better than them because he was still alive and he would accomplish what they could not.

I wondered what he would say if he knew his thought-dead relatives were thriving again. At least, I assumed they were. The young batch that I'd faced almost two years ago had to be out of fledgling status by now, especially with how fast time passed in Tumulus. It was best to assume they were thriving anyway. Probably musing the same things Grimm did. Maybe that was why I wanted him to show up so badly. Preferably when one of our flaxen-haired, red-eyed, razor-clawed third cousins five times removed was crouched on a building watching over me. Oh, I couldn't wait for that.

_Why hadn't you see them, Grimm? Oh dear, are they not monitoring you? Because they're watching me. How sad, they must not consider you more than a fly on their fruitful plans._

Not that I was happy to see my dad's side of the family; once a month or so Niko or I would spot one. Creeping between the shadows of an alleyway, listing toward the edge of a rooftop peering down, a smudge of pale white on an otherwise dark night sky, the ripple of gray from a gate or the trilling sensation of reality tearing a mile away. They never made a move on me. Never got very close. Niko said they were observing, but not to let our guard down. And if Grimm didn't notice then he was either a lot dumber than I'd anticipated or they just weren't watching him. The Auphe had to know about him. Had to know one of their little Nevah's Landing gifts to me had sprung his cage and cause a hoopla wherever he went. He wasn't very subtle with his intentions. So it was funny that they ignored him, hilarious even, and I really wanted to rub it in his face.

"Cal! Dinner."

I smiled at my brother's shout. The quiet life had also brought about some interesting changes in our routines. Most of it was the same. Niko and I went about our own errands and tasks during the day (mine usually consisted of various hours of television and general lazing about). We grabbed food when we had time between missions and near-death experiences. We took on 'normal' jobs that allowed us to pay bills between our Preternatural Detective Agency jobs. But now…now we had dinner together. Almost every night. I think his lover had something to do with this new routine, not that I minded.

Promise Nottinger was a lot of things: beautiful, poised, rich…a vampire. And once we moved in to her new apartment after Grimm tracked me down at ours, I also found out she was a bigger neat freak than my brother, she had a secret affinity for mafia movies, and she was an amazing cook. I'd always assumed she'd have someone cook for her and I was glad I was wrong.

I rushed to finish my shower, eager to scarf down the roast pork she had been cooking when we came in. Niko was just as pleased when I showed appreciation for her meals; they were probably healthier than I would have liked to admit. They had to be for my health-nut, body-is-my-temple brother to eat them too.

When I came out the bathroom, Niko had already left, closing my door as if he knew I would come out with my only towel drying off my head. I could hear them just outside of my room, which meant they were setting up in my kitchen. That was such a weird thought. My kitchen. I was pretty sure Promise had bought this penthouse apartment with the intention of a bigger family living here, but some things didn't work out. I didn't know for sure of she and Niko were trying for kids; it was mentioned a while back, before some shit hit the fan and I met my new arch nemesis. We certainly had enough rooms, but they didn't discuss it. Not with me, at least.

The penthouse was off of Broadway; that alone made me never want to know what it cost her. Promise had inheritance from four previous marriages, a personal advisor that made her millions every year even in recession, and a frugal sensibility for a rich woman. Now it was never confirmed or denied regarding her widowed status in the previous four marriages, if it was her design or just the fact that she married them older and they died before her. She did confess to me once that two of them knew what she was. The other two…who knew? What I appreciated was that I now had a big boy apartment of my own. Seriously.

The penthouse had five bedrooms and five baths and a fire escape that calmed our nerves for being so far up from the streets and a quick getaway. Originally, my half was pretty much cut off from Niko and Promise's complete with my own kitchen, living room and dining area. One look at the blueprint before we moved in and Niko said no way. He couldn't let his only path to his brother's side be a separated front entrance. I hadn't liked it much either. Niko and I were always just down the hall from each other, just a few feet. I disliked the thought of having to walk through my side of the penthouse to my front door, then down our private hall to his front door and that wasn't just because I was a lazy son of a bitch. So Promise fixed it. Without a word of complaint, after dropping how many millions on this loft mansion, she had renovators convert the living room to a guest room, the former guest room into a new living room, and removed one of the bathrooms for a hardwood hall that led right outside of Niko and Promise's master bedroom. It still left me with plenty of privacy, which I wasn't too sure what I should do with.

Niko was setting out the plates on the small dining room table when I came into open area that now served as both living and dining rooms. The 'crappy' television was on this side of the apartment. Niko's doing, so I wouldn't spend so much time in front of it. Little did he know that I didn't really mind a 32", even if the 56" flat screen was on their side. Promise was behind the kitchen island at the stove, stirring something that smell delicious. I flopped down in one of the dining room chairs, finishing off my hair with my towel. "Caliban," Promise said evenly. She glanced over her porcelain shoulder to reprimand me with a level glare, those lavender eyes piercing. "Not at the table."

"Yes, mama," I teased. I got back up and tossed my towel into my room. My bathroom was directly across the way so it landed on the tile floor and that was going to have to be good enough for Promise. I might have been _trying_ to keep my messes out of the rest of the apartment, but my room was off limits for her clean tirade and she knew it. I closed my door and returned to the table.

"So," I drawled, folding my hands in front of me. "How was your day?"

Promise snickered and shook her head. Her dark hair was pulled up in a strange twist that looked both effortless and polished. Little tendrils had slipped out and down her nape. She was actually wearing an apron too. It kinda ruined the rich princess image, but I didn't mind because it strengthened the sister image.

The dinner conversation was about the job we finished and the next up for bat; Promise used her networking connections to get us work, joining us here and there if it suited her. So most of the time she and Niko held up the conversation about supernatural upstarts and politics, while I stuffed my face before dashing off to work at our friend's bar down in the districts more prone to _paien_. It was the same as last night and the night before that.

_The surreal 'normal' life. Boring._

Yeah, I wasn't sure if I would ever grow to appreciate it.


	4. Chapter 2 - Cal

**CHAPTER TWO**

**CAL**

There was this movie I saw once –a vampire movie, probably a B-level…eh, maybe C. Anyway, the vampires all gathered at this bar drinking blood from silver chalices, decked out in dark velvets and leather, pricey jewels laced around the women's necks and cravats tucked into the men's ridiculous vests. They talked like they were still in the eighteenth century and eventually there was some big fight where vast amounts of viscous blood were thrown about. Half the vampires were killed, blah, blah, blah. It was pretty bad even for my low taste level. My point was that real vampires were nothing like that. Well, there was an exception to every rule and, sure, there were some nosferatu idiots out there trying to drum up their next victim by looking like a goth reject or a sparkly, hair-gelled teenybopper from a boondock town. The majority, though, were just as varying as humans, which meant some of them were civil and some were complete douchebags.

Like the two meat-heads that had gotten a hold of the remote for the bar television and were treating The Ninth Circle like their local sports bar. A sports bar this was not. The owner was a peri, the employees were peris, the building had freakin' trees growing out the floor and through the rafters, and there was a fire axe strategically place behind the bar in case of a riot. This was a _paien_ bar, yet sometimes, just sometimes those few preternatural so immersed in themselves and the human populated world they lived in would waltz in and act like it was the ESPN Zone. It was even worse when they brought their offspring in here. Not a fucking daycare, either.

These two were straight out of the frat scene, both burly from way too much steroids and stops by the gym to pick up…well, more likely their next meal than a good lay, but pretty sure that went hand in hand for vampires that still fed the traditional way. One wore his baseball hat backwards, indoors, and with that reflective sticker still on the underside of the brim. His white teeth and sharp fangs were even more prominent against his dark skin and his voice was booming when he fist pumped the air as his team scored. The other, looking like someone who had done quite a few keg stands in his lifetime, was in a Devils jersey which was just stupid in an area predominately Rangers fans –not that I followed Hockey, but you hear enough of it working at any bar.

I set two beers down in front of them, trying my best not to go for the fire axe that nudged my knee. "Six dollars."

Ebony barely spared me a glance, while Ivory flashes his fangs and started spewing out curses. The gist of it was frustration over our prices. "Dollar drafts ended two hours ago. You want something cheaper try the Gym on Eighth Ave." That got me a seething glare from both of them. I smiled in satisfaction. I could play nice sometimes, of course my version of playing nice was insinuating they would be interested in a gay bar, but in my defense they did display sports on all their big screens. "Six dollars."

Ivory stood up from the stool and placed both hands on the bar to lean toward me. "What are you trying to say, you fucking prick?"

"That you own me six dollars for the beers." I tilted my head, still grinning. It was supposed to be my customer service smile, but I knew quite well it wouldn't pass for anything beyond sadistically malicious. I held out my hand for the cash. It was Ebony that slapped down a five and a one into my palm. Then the smart vamp grabbed the tail of his friend's shirt and pulled him back into his seat. I took the money and walked away, proud of my control. I could hear Ebony whispering to a still peeved Ivory not to mess with me. I wasn't the human they thought I was and I obviously wasn't peri.

Most _paien _could smell that on me. Most could tell after a few long looks that I was not your average 'sheep', as they called the humans. And if they figured out what that little extra spice was they were quick to retreat. All _paien_ feared the Auphe. Or some, like the pucks and peris loathed them. It still surprised me that Ishiah and his other employees accepted me to the extent they did. At first it was begrudged tolerance, but by this point –three years of working here– they were almost friendly toward me.

I leaned up against the counter behind the bar by the register, waiting for Samyel to finish up his transaction. The Ninth wasn't that busy tonight. The vampire duo was the only ones at the bar. There were some wood nymphs chattering at the center table, two selkie dredged themselves out of the waters of Staten Island for a saucer of something Danyael concocted for them, and there were five werewolves at a far table watching me as if being here would have me rage and attempt to slaughter them for past indiscretions.

_Well, why not? It isn't as if they don't deserve a little special Caliban treatment._

The inclination was there, but I curbed the impulse. I had a bad habit of killing off Ishiah's regulars. That was it though. A quiet Wednesday night.

I flinched when Samyel flicked a bill toward my nose. Figured he was trying to snap me out of my idle daydreaming, until I realized he was offering me the five. He didn't say anything, just flashed a quick look toward the vampires (who had calmed down considerably). I took the five dollar bill and gave him the six for the beers. Sammy was rewarding me for good behavior. I wasn't going to question it. Nymphs always tipped well so I assumed that was where the extra purse came from. And since it was so dead, I doubted my tips would be much better than that for the rest of the night. In thanks, I took out the trash without being told to six times.

Samyel was back at the table with the nymphs when I came back in, while Danyael had wordlessly taken over for the vampires. I was a good boy, but there was no guarantee I would remain that way and they knew it. It was especially difficult to keep me in check with Ishiah not around. I respected my boss to an extent. He put up with his pan boyfriend somehow, which was a feat all its own, plus I'd seen Ishiah in action once or twice and there was a reason peris –though viewed as a more benevolent race – were still feared on a battlefield. Ishiah was older than any of my other affiliates (with the exception of Robin who was older than time itself if his exaggerations were to be believed), so some respect was deserved and much of it was earned for the sheer fact that he also put up with me and continued to employ me after various periods of not showing up and various times of beheading a customer or two.

He was out…somewhere. Not in New York. There was some big to-do regarding the peris out on the West Coast. Apparently, they had some sort of peri national guard he was involved in. Not sure why. Ishiah was clan-less, which wasn't looked highly upon by other peris. Especially, because Ish had originally been clan-less by choice…now it was more because most of his clan was dead. Regardless he was away and, for a week, so was Goodfellow. The bar was chillingly quiet without them. And I was bored, I had to admit it, which often led to me getting into trouble. Hence my co-workers being extra careful not to let me find the trouble I was looking for.

"Balvenie, please?" A lilting voice asked from the bar. I had been stocking the register with smaller bills; there was nothing else to do and I had no inclination to watch the game with Ebony and Ivory over there. It wasn't often that someone could sneak up on me save for my brother and sometimes Promise, but it happened every now and then and I didn't appreciate it when it did. I peered over my shoulder in attempt to hide my second of surprise and slammed the register shut.

I recognized the woman sitting before me, vaguely. She was attractive, a little of that bad girl look with heavy mascara and shadow. Her dark hair was braided to the side, loosely to show off the thickness and shine. Her eyes were a startling gray, like mine, lined with thick lashes that didn't look pasted on. Her features were sharp; eyes tilted up just slightly to give an exotic look, lids deeply hooded, her nose was thin and long with a subtle point at the end, and her mouth was curved into a wicked smirk that promised an adventure that would in all likelihood lead to your imminent demise. She sat like Promise did even on the high stool, prim and proper. A woman that probably had enough money to be served like royalty at a bar much better than this one. "Double or single?"

"Double, thank you." I tried to shake the feeling that I knew her as I poured her the scotch whiskey. You see people in passing all the time in New York. It was a metropolis for shit's sake. But the _paien_ were different; Niko and I had to pay attention to those in case one of them decided to come back and punch us in the neck when we were down. This woman didn't seem the type, besides the fact that her coloring and pale complexion made her a shoe in for my long-lost-sister (perish the thought, by the way), and she also didn't seem to want anything but a good glass of whiskey. I placed it on the counter in front of her and before I could name the price she gave me her credit card. "I'm meeting someone. Open a tab, would you?"

"Sure." I took the card, glanced down at the name of Genesee Blackfoot, and slid it into the register for safe keeping until she cashed out her tab. "Anything else?"

"You look familiar," she stated. Unsure how to react to that since I'd been thinking the same, I tried to pinpoint where I knew her from. We'd never done a job for her. I was a guy; I remembered pretty faces, especially when they stared at me like that. Not a job, not a frequent customer and not an enemy that I knew of. "Ah, yes, the market under Atlantic Avenue," she supplied.

"Uh, yeah," I muttered, then nodded as the memory solidified itself. "I thought you were southern?" I'd seen her there all right. She caught my eye then too, like a glitter of silver catching the sunlight. Goodfellow quickly guided me away from her; not something he normally deterred: my interest in the opposite sex…well, my interest in any sex –he was a puck after all.

"Only as Tae; she has to lay low for a little while. That was the night the manananggals and wyvern caused all that chaos, I remember." She hummed softly, her eyes roving over me like I was a dessert cart. I wasn't complaining. It had been a while since I had any extracurricular activities of the lustful persuasion. "I also remember thinking there was something different about you. You know, they normally leave the market alone. It takes something particularly offensive to set them off."

I grunted and glanced down at the two vampires at the end of the bar. They were immersed in the television again, but I could see their eyes dart in my direction as if to see where I was. Make sure I wasn't coming up behind them to slit their throats. "Well, my existence often offends. Blame it on the genes."

She lifted her chin to look at me through hooded eyes. I wasn't sure what she was exactly. She hadn't bared her teeth at me so I doubted she was vampire. No matter how poised a vampire was they always subtly flashed their fangs as a warning. Promise was careful about that in the beginning, but that was mostly because she didn't want us knowing what she was. She was assuming we were human at the time. In a bar like this you were either _paien_ or food (or Niko), so they flaunted their strengths. Same went for the werewolves, which if high-bred sometimes looked completely human. Of course, I normally smelled dog on them if that were the case. Most other _paien_ were a little more obvious, either physically or behaviorally. Ms. Blackfoot smelled like fog, looked human, and only seemed strange because she was a classy lady in a dive bar.

"And what kind of genes are those?" If she was asking she couldn't tell, which meant she couldn't smell me and she couldn't sense me. I watched her sip delicately at the whiskey, her mouth curling into a smile around the lip of the glass.

"You show me yours, I'll show you mine," I challenged. And it was a challenge. Most _paien _didn't like being forced to expose themselves or called out and they especially didn't like showing all their cards. Even the tranquil woman before me straightened a bit in her chair at my command as if I'd asked her how much she weighed. She obliged though, holding out her hand for me to take. For a moment I thought she wanted to show me elsewhere, either that or she wanted to take me out back for an assassination attempt of the half-Auphe. I was game though, something needed to get my blood pumping or I was going to start wandering into Kin bars just for blood-sport.

I moved to take her hand, but my fingers didn't meet flesh, instead they swept through a cool patch of fog that was suddenly suspended over the bar. I smirked and let my hand drop to the wood surface, waiting for her to reconstitute the limb, from elbow to fingertip. Wendigo; should have guessed. I'd met one a year ago that had the same skulk in her movements as this one. Similar coloring too. They were like black panthers, easily missed in the darkness of the world, but commanding your attention when their gaze settled on you. "Well?" she prompted. She took up her glass again waiting for me to reciprocate.

Interestingly enough, her power wasn't all that different from mine. Both resulted in quick escapes and sneak attacks. Although I learned over my years that gates could be used as a weapon as well; I hadn't mastered that tactic and every time I attempted to practice Niko would catch me and reprimand me for cutting the couch pillows in half…again. Not to mention, while a Wendigo had the power to dissolving into a fog, changing their chemical make-up or something, it was an internal change. They changed themselves and only themselves. My power was a bit more violent. I showed it to her anyway, opening a small gate in the air above my palm. The vibration of the tear tingled across my skin at every spatial thread snapping. Genesee sat back on the backless barstool, staring down at the warped gray and obsidian void that was humming in front of her. Her heart picked up speed; I could see it pulsing in her tense neck.

The vampire douchebags were out of the chairs and standing several feet away from the counter. They were almost huddling together in fear. The nymphs watched me cautiously, but knew my display wasn't an attack. They had been frequenting the bar for a few months now and seen me when I was throwing a tantrum. This wasn't rage, so they were calm. The werewolves, well, that little gate was all they needed. Genesee disappeared in a puff of smoke, literally, as the first Kin bastard barreled over the counter. His crooked, clawed, paws with opposable thumbs instead of duclaws, were splayed out to straggle. I dodge and laughed to myself as he went head first into the crates behind me. He was behind the bar now and that was my territory.

_As Ish always said: they get behind the bar, they're all yours. _

I grinned; the night just got a little better. I pulled my gun from the shoulder holster it had been hiding in and let two bullets rip through the fallen werewolf's skull. He stilled, gushing brain matter and blood over the empty bottles of Hennessey and Jack that were waiting to be taken to the recycling container out back. I turned to look back at the other hydrant-pissers, disheartened to see them pacing a distance away because there were two peris flexing their broad wings and keeping my new toys separate from me.

"Cal, out back, now. Take a breather!"

I frowned, lowering my Glock so it wasn't aimed at the back of Samyel's head. "He came at me," I defended. Samyel shot a glare over his shoulder (and around his wing). He was holding the fire axe. Danyael had an aluminum bat. I didn't want to abandon this fight. Even if it would be as easy as the wyvern considering how sloppy these flea-bags were, it was a fight nonetheless and I was itching for one.

"Caliban, I'm not going to say it again!" It was funny how Samyel thought he could control me. No one controlled an Auphe; I was lucky that I could control myself half the time. And right now, I really didn't want to.

I followed the little clip-clip of clawed paws echoing off the wood paneled walls. Watched the werewolves' pacing shadows between the peris' feet, gauged the pace, the pauses and…oh my, how did that gate get on the floor right in front of one of them? Like a portal, I opened another behind the bar and werewolf number two tumbled at my feet, hackles up, ears back and pissing himself already. I grabbed for the scruff around his fuzzy collar and yanked back so he yowled. The Glock scrapped his teeth as I shoved the silencer down his throat. "Fuck off, Fido."

Lucky, the mats behind the bar were so easy to clean, because blood could be a bitch to scrub out of tile grout. I dropped the dead fur-ball, wiped the muzzle off on a nearby bar rag, and hissed out in surprise when I was yanked backward over the bar counter. A fire axe slammed down next to my head; actually it would have split my skull open had I not dodged. "Ohhh Sammy, damaging Ish's property, tsk, tsk."

"Control yourself, Auphe, or so help me I will kill you," Samyel snarled at me. I chuckled. Even from my inverted position I could see the other werewolves were gone. Actually the bar was empty save for me and the peris. Well, I must have put on a good show. Usually our clientele joined in on the fight, not ran away with their tails tucked between their legs. Despite his attempt to turn me into a jack-o-lantern, I knew Samyel didn't _want_ to kill me. He was frightened by me, they all were. Even if they pretended they weren't.

"He came behind the bar," I responded. I rolled over, bracing my knees on the bar and standing up. Samyel yanked the fire axe out of the wood and stepped back. It didn't even matter that I holstered my weapon. He wasn't happy with me at all. Bet he wanted that five dollar tip back too. "Ishiah said if they come behind the bar, I can take care of them."

"You _gated_ him behind the bar," Danyael snapped. There was an unconscious werewolf at the other peri's feet. This one probably couldn't roam the streets in the light of day, not with his mouth so elongated and his upper teeth slicing down like a saber-tooth's. He also had some teen wolf eighties hair going on. I hopped down from the counter to stand level with my co-workers.

"They were waiting for an excuse to strike all night, if they hadn't done it now it would have been on my way home—"

"Then you kill them on the way home, Caliban. You know better that to start something here. You instigated their attack with your gate and I doubt it impressed that Wendigo either." I rolled my eyes; I wasn't exactly trying to impress her. I was more just holding up my side of the bargain, plus I wanted to see her reaction. Wiping smug looks off peoples' faces was a great pastime for me, male or female, it was endless fun.

Samyel sighed and ran a hand through his chestnut hair. He and Danny look very little like their boss. From what I'd learned, Ishiah was a bit like a foster dad for other peri misfits. He employed clan-less peris or ones who just didn't want anything to do with their family. I could relate. Samyel looked like a guy from one of those Greek paintings with long features and a mop of curly brown hair, while Danyael just looked like a Latin bro, one that had just gotten out of a gang war or something. Neither of them looked anything like an 'angel', even Ishiah was a little too broad and rough, though he did have the pale hair and strong features of the scripture monoliths.

The fire axe was loose in Sammy's grasp now. He let the head of it slide down to the floor, though he continued to hold the handle as a precaution. "Just go home. It's dead tonight anyway. I don't need you stirring up trouble for the few patrons we do have."

I growled under my breath, but he did have a point. I wasn't going to lose any steam, holed up in the Ninth. I needed to get out and stretch my muscles, maybe do some boggle wrestling. Scratch that, mama was still furious with me and Niko after Grimm slaughtered half her family. It wasn't even about her fury in a fight; it was more that she didn't deserve anymore bloodshed, even if it was in play, not yet at least.

I shoved passed Samyel, no longer wanting to fight for my right to stay here. They wanted me out, I wanted to be out –everybody wins. And if the werewolves were waiting for me, even better. I kicked at a ball of ice on the sidewalk outside the bar and watched it bounce and crumble into sleet in the road. What the hell was wrong with me? My control was slipping. I was letting it slip. It was just too damned quite.

"Impressive. You certainly know how to put on a show."

I turned at the voice and saw Genesee, exiting the bar behind me. I narrowed my eyes and chuckled. She had been there the whole time and I hadn't even noticed. "You too. I didn't even know I had an audience."

"Half Auphe, half human," she mused. I lifted my eyebrows as she circled around me. It was predatory, but not it the manner that she was looking for an opening to gut me. Oh no, this was sexual, no mistaking that heated look. "However did that happened?"

"Well, it involved an Auphe, a gypsy whore, and a lack of condoms." She giggled as if I was joking and I let it slide. She didn't need my life story; who would believe it anyway? "I'm surprised you didn't run."

"I'm not that fragile," Genesee replied. She flashed her card that she had given me earlier. "Besides I had to come back for this. A girl can't live without her plastic." She turned on her heels and started down the sidewalk. I watched her hips swing back and forth, the curve of her little ass outlined clearly in her tight slacks. "You coming?"

I lifted my gaze to the sultry expression she cast over her shoulder. I could pretty much only see her gray eyes around the fur trim of the hooded jacket, but it was enough. "What about your friend?"

"He's not coming. So you're invited instead."

That didn't sound suspicious and dangerous at all. "You know, my friend warned me to keep away from you. Pucks don't do that often."

She turned slightly, waiting for me to walk up beside her. And I did. Robin could give as much advice as he wanted; he already knew how rarely I took anyone's advice. "Goodfellow?" she asked, and scoffed a little. "He just doesn't like me because I ate one of his former lovers he wasn't finished with."

There must have been a little shock in my eyes at her abrupt confession, because she laughed at me and tugged up her hood to stave off the cold. "I'm a Wendigo, half-sheep. We have needs just like any other creature, but I refuse to conform to this stifling society."

"So I'm next on the menu?" I mused. Hey, I appreciated the candor; better she be up front about it. In this world it was sometimes literally dog eat dog, I wasn't naïve enough to think that all _paien _were like Promise who opted for pills and iron nutrients to stave her bloodlust. Werewolves mauled humans, Boggles ate muggers, and incubi and succubae sometimes sucked their partners dry. Hell, humans shot each other for a new pair of kicks or because some asshole looked at them with a crooked smile. No one was innocent, but I certainly wasn't hopping into her bed if she intended to go Hannibal Lector on me.

Genesee flashed white teeth in a very naughty version of a smile. "I'm hungry for a different kind of meat tonight."

I nearly choked on my own spit, trying to swallow that. What the hell was going on with women these days? They were becoming more suggestive than men, which was saying _a lot_. I was also pretty sure I'd heard that line in a porno once…or fifty times, but you know, whatever.

_Who do you think your kidding, kid? You're not going to pass this up. You wanted something to get your blood pumping._

"Genesee," I started. She tilted her head back to give me a sidelong glance, questioning how I knew her new name. "Your card. I'm observant. And I'm also a little depraved." I stepped up into her personal space. She was tall, only about three inches shorter than me. She held her hood at the collar, trying to regain some of that regal demure mask she wore earlier. "I would like to come home with you, but I need to be assured that you are not going to be trying to snack on any part of me that I'll miss. I'd also like to know why you _want_ me to go home with you."

"You're thrilling," she replied. Her fingers touched to the bare skin just above the collar of my tee. She drew little circles in the hollow of my throat. Her eyes were fixed on her own actions, but mine were focused on her. "This town has gotten boring lately. The Kin have huddled into their pounds even months after the massacre. The succubae are hiding away like little rabbits, because of you—"

"Not me," I snarled. I smacked her hand away. She thought I was Grimm. The succubae were in hiding because of his sick deeds not mine. "Do not compare me to him."

"How many offers like this are you getting these days, hm?"

"I'm not in the mood anymore," I countered, though she did have a point. Without heeding my temper she pressed up against me, allowing me to feel the heat of her body beneath her open jacket. The curves were obvious in her skintight clothing, they were tempting my pulse. Her mouth danced across my clenched jaw.

"I can get you there, sweetheart. Come on," she cooed. Her hands were running down my sides, keeping clear of my weapons as if she knew where each one hid. Then she cupped between my legs, not at all shy about doing this in the middle of the street. "I'm just looking for something new and exciting. Live a little."

And that's how, despite Robin's warnings, I ended up at a Wendigo's apartment. It had been too long since I felt the heat of another and Genesee knew how to make a man cave. It was pretty easy; I was that desperate for the contact, but what sexually frustrated guy in his twenties wouldn't be? I devoured every second of it and she nearly devoured me…in the good way.

We didn't have sex, not the penetrating kind at least. There were plenty of the other definition that we tried out. Genesee was ready for it, teased me with the idea, but I resisted. I didn't trust her and I didn't trust my little guys to adhere to the 99% protection that condoms boasted. Fatherhood was not for me.

Fun was still had, grand fun. It left us both panting in satisfaction on her bed. I didn't stay long after. As I said, I didn't trust her and one of my exes had screwed me over pretty royally once or twice so I had to be careful. Besides, Genesee already admitted that her idea of a good time often resulted in a good meal and I wasn't about to become Auphe-tar-tar.

"Thanks," I offered as I tugged on my black jeans. I probably had a cocky smile on my face, but it didn't seem to ruin the moment. Genesee was filing her nails, trying to act like she hadn't climaxed twice and that her cheeks weren't still flushed. I wasn't the master that Robin claimed to be, but I'd learned a thing or two about what drove a woman crazy over the years. I also doubted someone so straightforward would give sympathy by faking it, so I was pretty sure she enjoyed it. "We should do this again some time."

She lifted her gray eyes and smirked with me. I tried to keep it casual, like I didn't care if my offer was amicable to her. Frankly, I wasn't sure if I did care. Other than her prowess and her physical beauty I wasn't terribly attracted to her. Her abrasiveness was almost too coarse. I didn't like her nails digging in to my back either; it felt weird…weak. It would be nice to have a sex friend again though. Ah, well, someone to have sex with when the mood hit; she probably would never be a friend.

"Sure, I know where to find you."

"And now I know where to find you," I replied, motioning to the room.

"Oh, Cal," she laughed like I'd just said something sweet and awkward. I caught my shirt when she tossed it to me, watching her slide out from under the sheets. "You honestly think I would take a stranger –a half-Auphe stranger– back to my real apartment?"

I let my gaze wander around the bedroom as I sat on the edge of the mattress. True, the chip bags and Red Bull cans cluttering desk, Xbox hooked up near a widescreen television, and the prison-wall posters of Maxim models didn't really suit her, but I wasn't really concentrating on that when we came in. Niko would be so disappointed in me tonight, for so many reasons. "So whose place is this then?"

"An ex-lovers'," Genesee giggled more to herself than me. "I like the strange ones. They're always a bit wild in bed." She gave me a fiery look as if to say I wasn't an exception. Hell, I'd take that as a compliment, thank you. "You want something to drink?"

I grunted a negative as I watched her walk over to the mini-fridge next to the television. She pulled out a bottle of Whiskey and sipped right from the bottle. I didn't cover up my leer even when she caught me staring. Like the other Wendigo I'd met, she was long and willowy. Her hips were broad in a sexy way and her skin was a flawless sandstone shade. Not one scar marred her naked frame. Her breasts and butt were a little on the small side, but there was enough to grab onto and that was all that really mattered.

"And where is this ex-lover?" I already knew the answer to that. Wendigo were known as vicious cannibals more than an innocent fog nymph; Genesee confirmed this readily. I wasn't naïve. I was sleeping with a murderer. "Out of town?"

She giggled again; that was starting to get a little annoying. It was an interesting sound, but it almost seemed like the laugh of a Bond villainess. She was trying too hard at the bad girl image, really. "Sure, for a very long time."

The first Wendigo I met had been an exception to the rule. Niko warned me of that. She was a loving wife to a Puca and a devoted mother. Being half Auphe just made me a delicacy. I sighed and got up from the bed once my boots were on; it was Delilah all over again. Difference was that Genesee was still a little frightened by me. That turned her on, clearly, but when that fear faded I would have to give her something to be scared of unless I wanted her sawing my dick off with her teeth as an appetizer.

"I'll be seeing you then," I commented. She watched me leave –though the fire escape window instead of the door. I didn't want to give anyone a second chance to ID me in case the cops or the Vigil tracked down the Xbox-ex in pieces in the fridge.

"Good night, Caliban." Her tone almost sounded like a threat, but I let it go.

Walking home, I realized my skin didn't itch anymore. The night was cool and it cleared my head; sex always had that affect on me. Too bad I couldn't get it on a routine basis. Half of Niko's lessons might actual sink in. I took the long route home, not particularly excited about going home to the penthouse apartment, where big brother would lecture me about checking in and the dangers of sleeping with strange women. He would know, somehow. He always knew. Prying bastard.


	5. Golden Boy - 1

**GOLDEN BOY**

_I met the one who called himself Grimm at the edge of a great expanse of desert. He had chosen one of the only areas that housed a series of caverns, cool within and damp from the body heat of all that that had been birthed within the nature-made walls. It reeked of decomposition; life and death balled in to one unsavory scent. Needless to say, I came upon the bodies first. _

_Tucked away to one side laid a pile of humanoid corpses, some leaking blood that resembled the color of an indigo sky, they smelled different –paien– but I couldn't place it. The rest speckled with the brown crust of dried human blood. There wasn't much pooled from the humans, which lead me to believe the blood was lapped up with relish like a dog getting the last drop of ice cream off a child's hand._

_They said he was using succubae to breed his Second Coming. They had laughed and laughed, at his attempts. They said he was naïve and arrogant, but that I could learn from him. Or I could coerce him back to Their arms. I conceded to Them bringing me here, but I wasn't prepared to subject another to my chains, psychotic or not. They didn't know this yet; how much as despised Them. I hid it under my obedience. _

_He misnamed me when he found me. I was wandering deeper into the caverns, following the scent and sharp sense that the youngest of the Second Coming were deeper and to the right. Grimm called me brother, but when I turned my gaze upon him he knew he was wrong. I was no one's brother. I was a child of Hell, like him, but I was not his brother. He demanded to know who I was. I watched something cover his teeth to make them look metal, like Theirs. He lifted a clawed glove and rested it against my throat. "Who are you?"he demanded again._

_He wanted to be like Them. He wanted to be better than Them. I had come here obediently, to learn from Grimm. To try and coerce him. Not into returning to Them, but in helping me. I knew I wouldn't be able to now. He was too much like Them. He smiled in excitement when he saw me, like a lion spotting a wounded gazelle across the Serengeti. He would launch after me if I ran, eager for the hunt. I wouldn't run. They weren't watching here. They awaited my return. Their Golden Boy with the blood on his hands._

_The claws extending from Grimm's fist dragged ever so slightly over the rippled scars along my neck, nicking them and beading blood of a deep red. Blood of something other than Them. I was something other than Them. I knew by sight, by smell, I was something different, and so did Grimm. "What is your name?"_

_I told him what They called me, but he didn't understand the sound. Maybe he didn't understand Their language. I didn't know the translation and I told him so. The rage that his filled his red eyes when I spoke my name, faded when I spoke in English. Or maybe it was what I said…or how I said it. Speaking could be so confusing and listening even more. His head tilted for a moment as he searched his domain for Them. I told him They weren't here, but They wanted him to return._

_Grimm had met Them months ago, around the time They decided I should learn, like he had, but They hadn't wanted me to meet him then and They hadn't wanted him to teach me. I didn't know why until I saw him in his cavern under the desert. He hated Them. He told me that. Said They were nothing but runts of the litter that hid like cowards and let their brothers be murdered by a Halfling as weak with emotions as They were with intelligence. I told him it had been sisters, not brothers, and he snarled at me. I stared at the teeth he created for himself, wondering if he had done it in homage to the family he despised or if it was for a more practical use. Blunt teeth were solid and strong, but not the best for tearing._

_He would not be caged by Them again. He told me he would rise above Them. He would show Them who was the most feared race. I decided not to tell him that his Second Coming was just a play off of something old that obviously hadn't worked. What was that called? Repeating an action and expecting different results? I would have to look that up. I didn't need teachers anymore. At least not those with beating hearts. I learned from the vast amount of information the humans put out for the population to read. Libraries, the internet; it was quite amazing and no paien thought of it. It made me wonder if Grimm and They didn't fear the humans and only pretended it was fury. The abilities to adapt, even if it were only to maintain their luxuries and material desires, were paramount in the humans._

_I told Grimm that I didn't want to be caged by Them anymore. He told me I didn't have to be. Then he tried to coerce me into his arms. It was laughable. One cage for another. He painted a picture for me with us on the edge of a world we claimed ours. He showed me his Second Coming and even I had to admit it fell a little short. The children of Grimm were a strange bastardization of our family, the new ancient ones, Them. The children of Grimm were the same pallor as me. A color closer to that of a meniscus against a white wall than that of the moon. Scales as fine and thin as silk littered their bodies and it shone with the same shimmering patina of light. The teeth they bared in caution of my presence were sparse; two metal fangs curving from their upper jaw and a forked tongue peeking out to scent me. From there, I would admit, there was a resemblance. Lank white hair, white-less red eyes, and compact bodies seemingly only taut skin over bone. Talons clicked together like a rattlesnakes warning and I answered the sound with a hiss of distain._

_Those pitiful hybrids would be torn apart by Them; they couldn't serve Grimm the way he hoped. Grimm didn't appreciate my criticism when I said as much. He pressed me back against the cavern wall and demanded I tell him how I was made. I told him that as far as I knew I was born among Them. Birthed in the stone cage They tethered me to, which had then become a locked hotel room in Bristol. He asked if I knew my father. It was a question never asked of me and I tired to come up with an answer, but all that came out was, "I am a child of Hell."_

_Grimm laughed and pulled back from me, only slightly. He crowded close enough that I could catch the stench of blood, sweat, and musk on him. He had told me what he'd done to create these children he held so much confidence in. The fact that it sickened me almost startled. And I couldn't understand if I didn't like the forced mating or the concept of mating outside his species. The latter, of course, would be rather hypocritical of me; I was born of two species unlike one another as it were._

"_My children are getting stronger. Each passing year more of their cells are consumed wholly by the Auphe inside. They will be formidable to the First and they will be the Last." He leaned in again, a hand to the wall on each side of me. The claws of his glove scrapped the rock. "You can join me, little brother. Help me created a new world. Our world. It's time the cattle and weaklings bowed to us."_

_So far I found I liked the world. From the grit of a man scavenging through diseased scraps for nourishment to the cheerful smile of the woman I held the door for at the coffee house. The subtle gestures, the loud explosions, the grime and the blood, the flowers and the sun. If I didn't already know that Grimm planned to keep none of this I might have said yes. Just to feel emotions I had yet to. Family, acceptance, loyalty, camaraderie. I would have to find these things elsewhere. I didn't tell him that though, all I told him was that his plans needed time and he had already run out._

_I gated to that coffee house by my hotel; thinking about it made me crave a warm drink._


	6. Chapter 3 - Cal

**CHAPTER THREE**

**CAL**

I was woken up the next morning from a cell phone thrown at my head. I caught it, barely, and glared at my brother, whose long blond braid was just disappearing from the threshold of my bedroom door. Confused as hell, I put the phone to my ear and in a groggy voice even I didn't recognized asked, "Yeah?"

There was a series of rapid fire Spanish or Latin or whatever the fuck language Robin used when he was pissed off, then: "Do you ever listen to a blasted word I say?"

"Huh?"

"The Wendigo, Caliban. You slept with that feral black widow after I explicitly said no."

I groaned and dropped back on my pillow, of which I shoved the cell phone under. "Goddamn it, Niko! You told him?"

"He already knew. Don't ask me how." My brother was talking outside my room and judging by the sound of a blender crunching through veggies and other disgustingly healthy things, he had decided to make breakfast in my kitchen. I was beginning to regret the renovation.

I pulled the phone back up to my ear and was surprise to hear silence. "Loman?"

"She's dangerous, Cal." Stop the presses, Goodfellow actually stopped talking for a second there and he actually sounded a little concerned.

"So am I."

"Yes, but you are my friend. My impetuous, feckless, callow friend whose head is filled with only the most debase, violent, and abhorrent sugarplum fairies known to man."

"Robin, it's too early for this," I grumbled. "We had some fun. That was it. There was no cannibalism involved, I promise you."

"She's the devil, Cal."

Obviously, I wasn't going to get anymore sleep. Even if I hung up on him now, he would just keep calling back. Turning off the phone would just lead to Niko dragging me out of bed anyway. So I got up and wandered into the bathroom. "You gonna keep going because I'm about to take a piss."

"Caliban, I know it's exceedingly difficult for you to understand my profound and pragmatic wisdom, but will you at least consider what I'm saying?" I tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear and relieved my bladder. "That's your answer? Really?"

I chuckled. "I warned you I needed to piss. And I did listen to you; I even told her you didn't want me hanging around her."

"Lovely, and what did she say?"

"That she killed and ate some guy you were banging before Ishiah put a ring on it. At least, I'm guessing it was pre-monogamy unless you fell off the wagon." Pissing complete, I went about the rest of my morning routine, which was a little easier once I put the phone on speaker and chucked it on top of the tissue box over the toilet tank.

"I'm insulted you would even insinuate such a thing. I'm devoted to Ishiah—"

"I know, I know," I grouched around my toothbrush. "I was joking, Robin. What's the big deal anyway? She's a _paien_, some _paien_ kill. It happens."

Goodfellow sighed over the line. What time was it over there anyway? That he was so upset about this he would call at this hour? He could be screwing Ishiah right now; that spoke greatly of his concern to begin with. "While I praise you for finally using the proper title for us and not supernatural beasties or pussy monsters—"

"Hey, I only call incubi pussy monsters," I defended. It was hardly audible with foam and bristles in my mouth, but I was pretty sure Robin wasn't listening anyway.

"She is not a _paien_ you should tangle with, whether in the sheets or, well, anywhere. She takes pleasure in the kill, Caliban. I knew her in Egypt. The lover she spoke so callously of, who was female actually, was the princess Nebetah. She was a beautiful, sweet girl, Cal, and that Wendigo flayed her in front of her parents, cooked her muscle with a candle flame and ate her piece by piece. She didn't do it for spite or survival. She did that because it _seemed fun_."

"You became a god and raped women because it seemed fun." And with that, I spat out the toothpaste foam and inserted my foot squarely into my mouth. "Fuck…Loman…" I was such a douchebag. "Robin, it's too early, my filter—"

"No, you're right," Robin interrupted, but that didn't make me feel any better. Robin was my friend, not sure how that happened exactly, but he was my friend and he had been there for me and Nik countless times where his nature usually told him to duck and cover until the party started up again. He made his mistakes over the hundreds of thousands of years he'd lived and I just dug into one of his most regrettable like it was a pop-culture reference joke. "I've made my own mistakes, but if you remember correctly my mistakes are usually due to egotism and naiveté."

I set my toothbrush down. He'd gotten my attention now. Goodfellow didn't admit his own faults lightly and he had _never_ owned up to his own narcissism, which had been exactly what the aforementioned rape stemmed from. Robin Goodfellow, puck playing god, never thought for a moment any creature would genuinely not want to sleep with him. Egotism and naiveté actually summed it up pretty well. So in respect to him I thought about what he was saying, and if what he was describing was true that was pretty fucked up of Genesee. It also seemed to match her personality. "All right, Loman. I'll steer clear of Black Widow Blackfoot. Satisfied?"

"Yes," Goodfellow responded. "Trust me, I would be happier if you were satisfied too, but just not with her." He was serious about this. I could actually hear it in his voice.

"Yeah, well, when you get back maybe you can hook a bro up, then."

"As interesting a proposition as that is, Caliban, I am, as you put earlier, still on the bandwagon of monogamy."

"Not with you, you sick puck." Robin chuckled; he already knew that. Teasing me was his version of accepting my unspoken apology. 'No hard feelings, Cal, knew you were an asshole from the moment you chucked me at a troll.'

We didn't bother exchanging goodbyes either. I hung up and he didn't call back; conversation over. I hopped into the shower, dressed the scratch marks on my back, which were actually more like bruises, and shrugged on some clothes from my closet floor. As long as I was up and moving Nik normally didn't rush me. My job was after eight for a reason. I didn't do mornings well and I usually took a nap around two when Niko went off to his tutoring gig in Queens. Promise never tattled on me; of course being a vampire she was usually sleeping when the sun was at its peak intensity too.

Back in my bedroom I could hear one of those murmured, secret, he's-out-of-the-room-now conversations. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck and if I could've mustered the energy, I probably would have been pissed off. Instead, I just waltzed out into the main area and held out my hands like it was a grand entrance. Promise and Niko immediately stopped talking. "Let there be awkward silence!" I announced as if it were a bible verse. "And so there was."

"Good morning, Cal," Promise greeted. It actually didn't sound too superficial either. She sat at the kitchen island, perched on one of the barstools. Niko was across from her, hands braced to the counter as he leaned to it.

I rolled my eyes and flopped down in the seat next to the poised vampire. She was much easier on the eyes than those two tools at the Ninth. Easier on the ear and nose too. She smelled like roses and honeysuckle today. "Don't act all coy. I know you were just talking about me."

Niko folded his arms to the counter, still leaning over but lessening the distance between us. "And you think we won't discuss it with you now?" I let off a whine, scowling at my brother. I'd just discussed it with Goodfellow, I didn't want round two so soon. Niko turned around to open the upper oven and came back to the island with a plate of waffles and bacon. He set it in front of me. It was a bribe for me to stick around while he lectured and, by my stomach's rumble, it was about to work.

"What do you want from me? I already told Robin I wouldn't meet with her again." I started pouring syrup on the waffles, chomping down on a piece of bacon at the same time. Might as well enjoy myself in this torture.

"I'm pleased to hear that, but I'm also concerned about the incident at the Ninth Circle last night."

I cursed around a mouthful of food and glanced up at my brother with upturned eyes. The innocent look never worked on him. He knew what I was even if he denied it. He knew back when he was changing my diapers. "It was a typical fight with typical Kin flea-bags at a bar where things like that typically happen. Almost every night, in fact."

"You opened a gate to drag a werewolf into your gun muzzle, Cal."

I swallowed the sticky waffles getting stuck in my throat and grimaced. Not for the first time I wondered if Niko had planted a camera somewhere on my person. More likely, Principal Sammy called my parents to complain about my behavior. He usually when to Ishiah to complain, but with the boss gone, big brother was the next best thing. "And it was highly effective."

Niko sighed, letting his head drop slightly. "Cal, just hours before you told me you wouldn't use your gates unless it was a serious situation."

"Well, they seriously pissed me off _and_ I'm pretty sure they were trying to kill me. Just pretty sure though." Niko's stare was fixed steadily enough on me that I actually stopped chewing for a moment. He was upset about something and I doubted it was me killing two werewolves last night. "What?"

"Ever since…ever since Grimm showed up you've been acting with more aggression than usual."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" I dropped the last piece of bacon on my plate and looked between Promise and Niko. "Are we having a family intervention right now? Is that was this is?"

"You say you have control now," Niko went on. He met my seething glare without hesitation, believing wholly in this stupid cornering tactic. "I'm trusting you with that, but it wavers when you attack a fleeing enemy so vigorously."

"Fleeing—" I cut off, not dignifying that exaggeration with anymore breath. Those Kin bastards weren't fleeing. They were pacing around the peris looking for an opening to tear into my throat. "Nik, I have it under control. I know what I'm doing."

"Do you? Because last night you had sex with a vicious murderer that even Goodfellow avoids after gating two werewolves to their deaths."

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. "And I did that pretty often when I was with Delilah, which, I might add, was before Grimm." That actually silenced my brother for a second or two because it was true. Granted, he didn't like me sleeping with Delilah either, but he never had a damned intervention for it. "And for your information I only gated one of the werewolves _and _I didn't have sex with the Wendigo. I'm not that stupid. We all know how stellar a father I'd be."

I popped the rest of the bacon into my mouth, ignoring the identical looks of pity cast upon me. "We done here?"

I watched my brother's shoulders sag. This wasn't about last night, we all knew this and I was sick of waiting for him to come to that conclusion. This was about the fact that Niko could see cracks in the human little brother illusion he'd placed over me. Those cracks were revealing the monster that had always been there, but Niko didn't want to accept that. Baby brother would always be Cal, not Caliban…that was changing. After Grimm, no, after I lost my memories last year, maybe even before that –it had all been changing. Baby brother was growing up. It scared him and not like it scared every parent watching their child grow and experience new and sometimes dangerous things. This bouncing baby boy was a descendent of evil incarnate and he was beginning to show his fangs. Niko vowed to protect me until they day I died, my keeper, but he wasn't sure how to protect me from myself. And I didn't want to fake it anymore. I didn't want to pretend I was human, or moralistic, or saved. Grimm made that impossible. Just knowing what he was and how much I mirrored him…

"We have a job," Niko said after a long silence, with which I took the opportunity to finish my breakfast during.

"Okay," I responded. I chugged down my glass of milk, slammed it on the counter, and tried to fake it. For my brother; I had to try. "Hit me, Detective Tracey."

"A nest of Bae have been tracked to the abandoned tunnels under the Brooklyn Bridge."

"I'm in." Killing Bae? Second to pissing people off, that was my newest favorite pastime. Hopefully, Grimm would be there for playtime too. "When?"

"We have to be careful with this, Cal. That foundation is very unstable after Abbagor caused the cave in." Ahh, memories. Pretty sure that was my first conscious gate. It was definitely one of our first adventures with Robin. "The Vigil says they've seen no trace of Grimm, but they don't want to risk—"

"Wait, what?" I felt my upper lip pulling back at just the name of the human run organization. "We're getting leads from the Vigil now?" I snapped my head around to snarl at Promise as well. "You're getting us jobs from the Vigil? After all those manipulative sons-a-bitches did to us? We're working for them now?"

"Their information is good," Nik defended, actually placing a hand to the counter between me and Promise. Damn, did he think I was far enough gone to attack her? I shot him a look that was probably indefinable; hurt, pissed, seething. Whatever it was, Niko saw something human enough to retract his hand. "And we only discuss Grimm and his offspring with them. The more help we can get the better."

"No more," I growled. I didn't have to expand on that demand. Niko would know, hell, Promise would know what that meant. The Vigil had caused us nothing but grief since the second they became something more than an observing shadow, which was what the rest of the _paien_ still thought they were. They shrugged on the cloak of innocent humans just watching the night-dwellers to make sure we didn't go all genocide-al on the human population, while behind closed doors they were tagging and bagging any supernatural creature that could get their hands on so they could to figure out, above all else, how to kill us. They figured out what did me in, though they weren't successful. Apparently, a strong electrical field surrounding could disrupt any gate that I created and I was also susceptible to certain tranquilizers. They liked to freakin' drug me up –gas, syringe, dart– made transporting me in chains a lot easier. And it wasn't just me they'd hurt.

"Cal, I understand your aversion to utilizing the Vigil and their connections, but it may be in our best interest to work with them. Working against them only solidifies their fear of you." Promise's voice was soft and soothing; trying to be that mother figure I never had. It probably should've meant something that she was out here in my open kitchen. The floor-to-ceiling windows in this penthouse were covered in black-out curtains during the day for her protection, but there were a few smaller ones that were left untouched. Most of those smaller ones were from the renovation and therefore casting dappled shadows onto the carpet not five feet from her perch. Promise was literally risking her skin, where she could have safely stayed in the other kitchen and had Niko drag me over. They came into my side of the house to confront me, leaving me the opportunity to duck back into my room. Of course, evading this would only postpone it.

And Promise was right. The Vigil became interested in me because of our antics, because of my associations with…distant relatives. They thought me an Auphe like everyone else, but unlike everyone else, they didn't want me dead. They wanted me alive on a slab and cut open to see what made me tick, or rather what made me stop ticking. They wanted me to show them how to kill the Auphe, and if it didn't mean my servitude or possible death I would have done it. I wanted the Auphe dead as much as the Vigil did; I even drug a suitcase nuke that they provided into Tumulus to bomb what I thought were the last remaining females of the race. I was wrong, but that was also unsurprising. We'd worked together before. Before I'd seen their hidden labs and what they did to generally innocent _paien_.

Promise was trying to reestablish a link with the Vigil. I didn't appreciate it. I knew her ploy, –get the Vigil to see me as a good dog and they wouldn't lung to cut off my half-Auphe head– but I didn't care. I didn't care if I had one more bastard race on my tail. I was running for my life half the day anyway. Besides I had more interest in burning every one of their facilities down than I did stepping beside them in the field of battle.

"No more," I replied and little more calmly. I took up my plate and glass and walked them over to the sink. My brother didn't move from his position against the counter so his back was facing me when I dropped the dirty plates into the sink with a crash. It didn't break surprisingly; I kinda wanted it to. "If you're here thinking I've blown my gasket, why would you want the Vigil sniffing around? Seeing me in my newly psychotic, aggressive, gating state?"

"There is no need to get defensive, Caliban." Promise continued that cajoling tone. It was beginning to grate. I didn't want her pity, I didn't want her concern. I just wanted her to keep my brother happy and leave me alone…and continue cooking awesome dinners. "We only meant to protect you."

"Thanks, but no thanks," I countered and stalked off toward my room. "When are we killing these Bae, then?"

Niko let off a deep sigh through his long nose. "Tonight. I already told Samyel you wouldn't be at work."

"Great, then wake me up when you get done tutoring. Any time before two and you'll get a real eyeful of my new aggressive personality." I slammed my door shut like a twelve year old throwing a tantrum and kicked a nearby towel from the floor into the bathroom. It was pointless to threaten Nik; he could still kick my ass two ways to Sunday. He would wake me up whenever he damned well pleased and there was nothing I could do about it, except gate away. The point to the threat was to mock their irrational claims and to inform Niko that I was pissed off.

I sat on the edge of my bed and thought about it. Felt a little guilty even. Niko had done everything for me. He was the only reason I was alive today. He was the only reason I wasn't insane, or an Auphe puppet, or just plain dead. From age four he was there by my side, surviving and thriving and becoming a better man than any I'd ever known. It had to kill him, seeing all his hard work going to waste because he couldn't do anything to stop the Auphe inside from taking back what they thought was rightfully theirs. Each and every inch of me, cell by cell. That was the only reason why the Auphe, the physical Auphe, were watching, but not attacking.

If I was the same old Cal –the one that betrayed them and foiled their plans to rule the world again and forever and ever– they would have tried to kill me by now. They would at least be playing with me. But they kept their distance and the only reason there could be for that was because, slowly –ever so slowly– I was becoming one of them. And they knew. Like Grimm saw in his little Bae offspring. The Auphe blood, on a cellular level was taking over the human cells within me. Nik and Promise were seeing the affect as more aggression. I was feeling it deeper than that.

I knew what was coming, but just like I needed my brother…he needed me. It was a little better with Promise here and Robin and Ish waiting in the wings. They would help him get through it all. I needed to kill Grimm first though. I needed to see that task through and then…then what? I off myself before I become like daddy dearest? I was going to have to do it eventually; I just didn't want to do it too soon. I loved my brother. I liked the friends I'd managed to keep. I didn't want to leave this life at all, let alone abruptly.

I flopped down on my tangled sheets and stared at the smooth ceiling. It was strange not to see any cracks or stains in the plaster. It was so fucking pristine. I closed my eyes and concentrated on evening out my breath. Something had to give. Something would happen. Something would tell me when it was time to bite the bullet and free my brother from his monster charge. Something would…just not today.

Maybe it was because the Vigil were the ones to send us on this mission, but I wasn't entirely stunned when shit started going south. First off, the bastards' intel wasn't as superb as Niko seemed to think. It took us a better part of an hour to find an entrance into the service tunnels that wasn't teeming with impenetrable rubble or dead ends. Four hundred feet, I might add, from the entrance they told us to use. My nose was what got us there not statistics and out of date blueprints.

I caught the stench of decaying meat and we followed the flies down to the abyss. The cave-in that killed Abbagor, the self-proclaimed last troll in the world, had deepened the tunnels into a forgotten catacomb. Niko started jizzing his pants when he saw the indiscernible scrawl on the rocky tombs, saying it was a historical find and that we needed to inform Sangrida of this when we finished clearing out the pest infestation within.

He could do whatever he wanted, but I wasn't trekking all the way over to the Metropolitan Museum to chat with a buffed-up Valkyrie that hated me for burning down, crushing, and shooting up various off floor exhibits in the storage areas underground. Nevermind that I also relieved her of the conniving psychotic mummy that had been holed up down there. What did I know, maybe she had tea with Wahanket every Friday and I ruined the tradition.

I was more interested in the pile of corpses, pyramid-style in one of the mausoleum type alcoves. While Niko fingered the tomb engravings like a nerd at a porn convention, I sloshed through expelled fluids to see what kind of take-out the Bae had been getting delivered. I nudged one of the lower bodies in the pile, hoping to collapse it and get a wider spread to inspect, but all it did was sloth off some rotten skin to the bottom of my boot and make me cover my mouth at the rancid perfume that wafted up.

These bodies have been here a very long time. My guess was that this had been Grimm's hideout after I'd shot a few slugs in him nearly a half a year ago. He started rebuilding here, right under my nose, but he hadn't been here for an extensive amount of time. Pity, I had been looking forward to a reunion.

"Human, werewolf, even peri," Nikko recited as he came up beside me. He wanted to hold his nose too, I could tell, but he tried to be a big man as he stooped down to check the bodies. He used the flat of his blade to jar one and reveal a half gnawed on wing. "They weren't picky about their food, were they –oh, God!" He jerked away when the new wave of horrid stank struck his senses. I smirked as he coughed and stepped back a little more. He covered his face with the crook of his leather sleeve and gave me a pained look. I would have laughed if that didn't mean I would have to take in a breath for it. My sense of smell was better than my brother's and it was times like these I regretted that enhancement.

"They've been here for at least six months."

"Or more," I agreed. "I imagine this was Grimm's hideout right after Janus." I motioned down the tunnel to our left; I could see the one to the right only sank in about twenty feet before dead-ending. Probably more of the catacombs and I wasn't here for a history lesson. "Shall we?"

Niko nodded, holding his breath now, and we proceeded. This path actually split shortly into our journey. One track made a rickety ramp of landslide rock back up to the original service tunnels. The other was a continuation of our current path around the scattered rubble. I took in a deep breath, closing my eyes to enhance the other senses. The decomposition behind us was still prevalent in my nostrils; it overpowered whatever scents the Bae or the succubae breeders were giving off. I couldn't sense them either. Their presence was a little like the Auphe, though hardly as prominent; a spark compared to the Auphes' branding iron to the back of my neck. "Maybe they're hunting."

Niko gave me the 'wait here' signal as he skirted around the fallen stone toward the continued path. I scoffed and grabbed him by the scabbard hidden between his shoulder blades. He only allowed me to tug him back because we both knew how fragile this area was. If the tunnels above collapsed here, what was to say they wouldn't keep crumbling from one false stubbed toe or shoulder bump. Niko was trying to protect me by facing that danger instead, but it was laughable.

"I survived this collapse, Niko. I survived because I can gate. Fifty tons of rock and rubble will not take into consideration how stellar your ninja reaction time is."

Niko frowned in the dim light, but he let me go ahead. Ahead, but not alone. That was actually a bit warming. Sure, he didn't trust me not to cause trouble or fight on my own, but he also trusted me to get his ass out of there should hell start crashing down. And I would. If it came to that.

We followed the hall from the left side, coming upon both a sealed off dead end and a cavern. The ceiling to the cavern had to be weak considering the debris outside. I grabbed Niko's upper arm as we entered. I was right-handed, but I could shoot with my left. Not that I wanted to; the recoil and vibrations of a gunshot might bring this place down. We needed to lure the Bae to a more solid area if we were to fight and gating me and my brother out of this pit was luring enough. There were no Bae in the cavern though. None alive, at least.

"Shit," I whispered. There were bones everywhere. Draped over blood-stained rags that looked to once have been blankets or sheets, strewn about in the middle of the room, some where even set out into a full skeleton like a forensic diagnostic. They were stripped of every ounce of meat like a pork rib in a fat man's mouth. I could tell by the size of the bones and the shape of the pelvises that these were mostly female and judging by the long teeth in the skulls they were also succubae.

"The Bae ate their mothers?" Niko breathed out as if it was the most horrific and barbaric thing he'd ever seen. It wasn't. We'd seen worse, but I didn't comment. It didn't astound me like it did Niko; the succubae were not treated as mothers therefore they were either kept for breeding or food depending on how well they breed. I saw a few smaller male skeleton bits in here too. Which meant the injured or gateless or just plain useless were slaughtered and eaten as well. Not that it was much different in the animal kingdom, but I guess Niko still thought of these hybrids as intellectual _paien_ and not just another feral dog running the streets.

Granted these killings were more than just taking out the weaker as a show of power. These malicious Bae relished every second of it. Probably ate while the victim was still alive and screaming for mercy. The question was did Grimm abandon these Bae too soon and they had no other means of food or was this just how he nurtured them? I glanced over at Niko and gave a shrug. "Well, I'm done here. Shall we go find some bitches that need to be taught how they should treat the mothers?"

Niko's mouth parted to respond in a chiding manner, but he froze and I grabbed onto his arm just as the roof cracked and came crashing down.

Fuck you for this bullshit, Vigil assholes, fuck you hard.


	7. Chapter 4 - Cal

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**CAL**

I kept my hand on Niko's back as he hacked up the little bit of stone dust that covered us like glitter on a techno club dance floor. The gate probably didn't help either. Humans didn't do well traveling that way; hell, pucks didn't like it either from my experience. It was just the one hand though, because my other hand was busy discharging my weapon into the continuous wave of Bae that were hauling ass out of the crumbling tunnels.

It was kinda fun actually. Like one of those old arcade games with the plastic gun wired into the machine. Twenty points, forty, sixty, headshot! They caught on eventually once the bodies started piling up at the mouth of the tunnel. Niko joined in on the fun then; he most likely only bided his time in his recovery because he could –I had it covered. Still did, but I wasn't going to deny my brother a good fight.

We spent the next fifteen minutes dodging the quick little bastards as they gated circles around us. As promised, I didn't use mine. I wouldn't unless it was necessary. Getting out of the tunnels before it smothered us was necessary. For these pipsqueaks…meh, maybe if they got too close to Niko with a gate. They weren't really pipsqueaks anymore –full grown I'd imagined. Auphe were rather compact and usually crouched and curved over and these new Bae were no different. They were low stalkers. Even tried to climb up the side of the bridge to dive bomb. That just made their pale asses an easy target against the night sky.

I ducked down, back to the bridge pillar as I reloaded. Niko covered me for the few seconds it took with a few impressive sword flourishes that drove the last few Bae hesitantly back. The whole time they were shouting insults and threats at us in shrieking, whiny voices. Betrayer, Useless, Broken brother, among other titles they decided described me. As derogatory insults went, they weren't the worst heaved upon me with hissing spittle. They were a bit more creative with their threats. Apparently they wanted to drag my intestines out of my bowels inch by inch, and use my eyes as martini olives, break both my legs and force me to walk across melted glass. They had some good ones; it had me laughing as one ate a bullet from my gun and the other lost their head under Niko's blade.

There were only a couple close calls where a slashing claw caught flesh before it fell limp to the ground in a spray of blood. I had to boot a surprise third one in the face before it gated up from the ground to drag me down. Its tooth sunk through the rubber sole, of course missing the steal toe completely, and drove into my foot between big toe and the next one over. I spouted off several curses as I wrenched my foot to the side. The Bae cried out as the fang was plucked out of its mouth. I shot it in the head and bounce back on one foot. I didn't want to drive that shit through, it hurt enough only an inch in.

"Cal!"

"I'm alright!" I announced. It only took a second to work the metal tooth free and I only needed one hand for it. The other was searching the area for any stragglers as Niko pierced the heads of those that had fallen, but were still in their death throes. The battlefield was soon silent save for my little hiss of pain when I put weight on my foot and the sound of Niko making a call.

"Promise? It's done. Inform the Vigil they have a mess to clean up. Ah, also, inform Sangrida that she might want to send an excavation team down here in the near future, if you could." I rolled my eyes, but said nothing since Niko was under my arm supporting me on my good leg without question. "Yes, something to that effect. Thank you, Promise."

He slipped the phone in his pocket and started hauling me up the hill toward the side road our car was parked on. "Claw or tooth?"

"Tooth," I answered. "Kicked them in at just the right angle."

"The wrong angle you mean," Niko sighed. "Did it puncture through?"

"No, but it doesn't really hurt that much anymore." I touched my toes to the ground, but there wasn't any shooting pain. Actually, I didn't even feel the pressure of the ground. Weird. I set my foot down and put my weight on it. My knee buckled and down I went face first into the snow. Niko had to let go of my arm in order not to dislocated it, but at least he stopped me from sliding all the way down the hill. I stared down at my leg and poked at it from ankle to upper thigh.

"Numb?" Niko asked, as if he weren't baffled by this side effect. I tried to wiggle my toes, nothing, lift my knee, okay. Lifting my knee worked, but only because the muscles along my hips and thighs were all for listening to my brain, calf and lower on the other hand had obviously said screw it.

"Paralyzed," I responded. "Knee to toes. What the hell?"

"Venom," Niko explained. He slung my arm over his shoulder again and we continued our lopsided trek up the small slope. The concrete stairs near the top made it a little easier. "Succubae and Incubi are historically known for once having venom that injected from hollow points in their fangs."

"Like a snake?"

"Yes. In this time they rarely use it and some even say they have adapted _out_ of the defense. It was to subdue their victim or meal, if you will, but it isn't needed so much anymore."

I snickered and let Niko prop me up against the passenger's side of the El Dorado. "No need to subdue lustful humans eager to jump into a monster's bed, hm?"

"You're one to talk."

I groaned at Niko bringing Genesee up again and glared at him over the roof of the car. "Regardless, I don't see how paralyzing their victim would help them much considering they kinda need participation to suck all those sexual juices out, don't they?"

"That is a disturbing mental image, but yes." Niko ducked into the car and reached over to open my car door. I gave him an odd look; my hands were functioning fine, but whatever. I slid into the seat. My leg decided not to follow, so I had to pick it up by my jean's leg and place it next to the good one, before I shut the door. "The venom from Incubi and Succubae was only to subdue. Like a hallucinatory drug, only it mellowed as well."

"Like schrooms."

Niko casted his gray eyes to the roof of the car in exasperation. "Sure."

"So the Bae have corrupted that little defense into a paralytic." I was more a statement really. The proof was lying like a useless stump under my right knee. Thankfully the numbness hadn't climbed any further than the joint, but I could see how a quick bite to the throat could travel easily to the brain or heart, leaving the victim completely still for the little hellions to feast on live flesh. "I guess it isn't much for _defense_ anymore. That's an offensive adaptation."

"I agree. It should flush out of your system in a few hours regardless. We'll keep an eye on it."

"Does that mean I get to laze in front of the TV until it goes away?"

Niko actually smiled at that and reached over, ruffling my hair so a few clumps of lank black fell out of the half-ponytail and into my face. I smacked his hand away and took my damp hair down completely. "Only until it goes away."

It didn't go away in a _few_ hours. It was long enough that I actually got bored after watching episodes of the latest forensic investigation show that probably would be overshadows in a few weeks by the heavy hitters still on the air. So after Niko hooked a saline bag up to flush it out faster, I went to sleep early and woke up with my leg muscle twitching back to life. Damn, it hurt. Pins and needles all up and down that shit. But I did get breakfast brought to me in bed.

"I forgive for every Vigil-centric intension you ever had," I proclaimed and made a 'give' motion to Promise when she brought in the plate of eggs and bacon. She smiled her softly demur smile and handed the food over, supplying me with a fork as well.

"I'm glad you appreciate my cooking so much," she teased.

"Oh, that forgiveness was just for bringing it in. You'll be completely absolved of all your sins once I get this in my belly," I countered and promptly started shoveling it in. Promise chuckled, obviously glad to see me in better spirits. She dotted a kiss to my crown and squeezed my shoulder ever so lightly before she left the room. Little did she know I was in better spirits because I got to mow down Bae last night and gate without my brother being all up my ass about it. And now I was in grand spirits because bacon. Which is the answer to any bad mood. "Thank you, Promise!"

She had already left, but I knew she could hear that clear across the penthouse. She'd cooked it on their side, because if she'd done in on mine I would have woken up the moment that meat hit the pan. Hot damn, it was delicious.

I finished my breakfast in probably less than a minute and found myself in desperate need of coffee. Niko always told me scientific lies about getting too much sleep, but today I kinda felt it. I hobbled into the bathroom first, taking a leak and washing my face. At least, I could put weight on the leg without it folding like a dollar bill under me. The pins and needles still hurt like hell, but I pressed through it. I even took my plate back into the kitchen like a good little boy. Not that there was anyone in my kitchen to see it. I could hear Niko and Promise's voice sounding from their suite and decided not to interrupt them.

Taking advantage of what little handicap I had left, I plopped down in front of the television and watched old sci-fi movies until Niko came back from his tutoring gig. Of course, he dropped off two baskets of clean laundry for me to fold before he left, but I didn't really mind doing that chore since it didn't require me moving from my ass indentation on the sofa. It was a little awkward to folding dresses and women's blouses in the mix, but at least Niko thought well enough not to leave me with the underwear. Not that I'd care much, but ever since I sliced holes in his boxers during a small prank war between brothers a few years back he kept me away from anything dear to him clothing wise.

By nightfall, my leg had full recovered, which meant Niko and I were going out for a midnight jog. Samyel wasn't too pleased by my calling out of work when we were already short-staffed without the boss around, but he didn't ask why. Would have told him to suck it if he had asked, so all the better. Nik didn't usually run at night, especially a winter night, mostly because the run would be unavoidably interrupted by some sort of fight with a _paien _asshole or two. He wanted me on my feet and working out my leg though, as if I'd had it in a cast or something. I decided not to complain much; his hypersensitivity about my attitude might have had something to do with that choice.

Running at night…I found I kinda like it. I would have preferred a walk or perhaps a wander, but jogging with our breath condensing in the air and the shift of nightmare creatures all around us in the park was thrilling. It was mostly nymphs, which honestly weren't all that nightmareish, but I caught sights of two vodyanoi slugging around by the half-frozen pond and a family of strixes huddled up in the bare trees discernable from an owl only by its blood-soaked scent. Still nothing the Leandros brothers couldn't handle in a few seconds.

My mind wandered as we ran. Niko was silent; his senses trained on things other than his brother's emotional baggage for once. I thought about my own complacency and how I knew it would be the death of me if I wallowed in it for too long. I liked waking up in a big fancy apartment, lounging around for hours, then having a family dinner before going off to bartend at the Ninth. I enjoyed the simplicity of it, but, like Niko, I knew the eye of the storm was just a big fucking lie. So much remained unresolved and that niggling voice in the back of my head kept reminding me of that. The Kin, the Auphe, the Vigil, Grimm…especially Grimm. What was with this stalemate? With as many enemies I as had one would think I'd have no room to breathe let alone put my feet up and watch reruns.

The Kin avoided due to a recent slaughter that destroyed four of their lucrative business as well. They were reestablishing and the moment they were ready they would be at my throat again. I knew this, they knew this; it was an understanding. The Vigil were human, human-governed even, which meant over-analyzing and over-planning. They didn't want me unless they had a use for me, so until they had a use for me they would leave us alone. I was pretty sure after blowing up one of their facilities and trashing another they were hesitant on butting heads with us less than a year later. I also knew that once they decided to act, I had little to no hope in escaping them, lest I scrounged up a fake passport and hauled Niko off to Barcelona with me. Ten to one that had some chapter of the same damned organization over there too though.

My biggest question was why the creepy stalking on the Auphe side of things? Why was Grimm avoiding me too? By this point both were primed and ready for another fight. It had been six months since Grimm and I had it out and plugged a few holes in him and his gate. He would have healed by now. He would have produced several dozen more Bae by this point, five of which I killed last night. He wasn't watching me. The Auphe were, intermittently, but Grimm was not. I would have noticed. Unless they were actually working together now.

Shit, that thought just made my blood run cold. I had to rest on the assurance that Grimm hated the Auphe more than me. He hated them to the point that if he knew they still existed he would be actively hunting them. Hm, maybe that was why he wasn't bothering with me? He was out Auphe hunting. Or, quite possibly, the Auphe took care of Grimm –as in run no more, _asta la vista, Grimm_, took care of. Which would be frickin' awesome. It would also explain the abandoned state of that nest we flushed out last night.

"Bacon cheeseburger for your thoughts?" Niko commented. The first words spoken since 'pick up the pace' almost a half hour ago. He'd also jumped right into bribery to get me to talk. Usually, he would ask what was wrong first and if I failed to supply the answer he sought he would sweeten the deal.

"Grimm, Auphe, Vigil, Kin; in that order of concern," I replied. I saw Niko's blond eyebrows lift just slightly, probably because I placed Grimm before the Auphe. I decided to assure him my sanity was still intact for now. "Grimm first because it's much more plausible to kill him and be done with it."

"Fair enough. One enemy and a pack of pawns as opposed to a hoard of nightmares."

"That's how I see it, plus he just pisses me off."

Our footfalls filled the silence for a little while, mine much heavier than Niko's measured steps. I was sweating under my hoodie, but without it my Glock would be exposed and most cops didn't take 'protection against supernatural mo-fos' as a valid excuse to carry a weapon without permit. The cold air was enough to keep my temperature pretty even though. Maybe that was why I didn't mind running so late in the evening.

"Forming any plans to pursue that?"

I grunted a negative. I had no means of tracking Grimm. Even if I could gate with finesse and without limitation now, I hadn't the chance to shove a GPS mod up the bastard's ass when we were fighting. I could sense when he was near, like the Auphe but a little different…a little weaker dare I say. The opening of a gate, though, I could feel that from a mile away. Part of my DNA and all. All that meant, was waiting around for Grimm to make the first move. I wasn't about to dig up Niko's tentative roots here and abandon the friends I'd managed to make over the years just to go on a half-Auphe hunt that would probably be fruitless until Grimm wanted to be found anyway. "My plan is to wait for Grimm to stop being a pussy and come at me so I can kill him. In the meantime, I will enjoy living a relatively normal life, eat Promise's awesome food, listen to Goodfellow inappropriate stories, sling drinks for the dredges of _paien_ New York, and try and convince my big brother that I'll be there for him no matter how much I change into the monster he denies exists."

Niko stopped short. I jogged a few more steps so I didn't pull anything and let off a sigh that condensed into the air. Apparently I couldn't multi-task my filter while running with a wandering mind. I hadn't intended for that monologue to be so candid.

"What do you mean by that?"

I leaned over my bend knees. "Which part?"

He turned from me for a moment, smoothing his hands over his hair that dangled over the back of his short coat. It wasn't his usual duster, which meant he only had a few bladed tricks under there. I watched him do a little spin as he tried to gather thoughts. He was rattled, more than he'd even been when he and Promise were hounding me in the kitchen. "Cal, you're not a monster. Why do _you_ deny that?"

"Not good, no bad, not a saint, not a monster. I am me," I grumbled. "But the fact that you called an intervention means that I haven't been feigning the good half very well. Grimm stands firm on his platform that the Bae are mutating into full Auphe. How much belief I have in that remains to be determined, but I'm changing, Nik. You've seen it, I know it. So maybe the whole, Auphe cells slowly taking over human cells thing has some merit."

"No." He said it so sure and matter-of fact that I almost agreed right then and there. "Cal, you're twenty five now. If that were the case you would be progressively getting worse, not going back and forth like an addict."

I rolled my eyes. "The gates aren't an addiction, Niko."

"It isn't your cells changing, Cal, it's your life. Things happen, things changed drastically and you're reacting to it." Niko grabbed me up by my upper arms and turned me to face him. "You're still the same Cal, just a bit more experienced…maybe a bit more jaded too."

"You're in denial."

Niko sighed, then of all the things to do the idiot hugged me. Like this was some brotherly hug-it-out moment. "I love you, little brother. I know you will always be there for me. You are right about that."

I wriggled out of his hold, not to be an ungrateful ass, but because I wasn't done drilling this into his brain. "When did this turn into a bonding moment? I'm trying to talk to you about something that I haven't wanted to talk to you about _ever_. I am Auphe. There is no escaping that, there is no denying that."

"You are also human. There is no denying that either. And you have control. Isn't that what you told me?" Niko met my gaze with certainty. He wasn't backing down, he wouldn't see my point. To him I would always be little baby brother, Cal, no matter how many cracks in that façade he saw gleaning through. He must have seen the irritation in my look, because he let out a long breath and looked up toward the night sky. "I'm not trying to negate your feelings, Cal."

"I know. You're trying to solidify your own. At the cost of the truth."

"You think I'm that blind? You are changing. And yes, I'm a little worried about that, but not the way you are thinking. You're getting older. You're experiencing life, death, love, loath, spite and pride; everything. I can't protect you from those things."

I stared at my brother for a long moment. That was it huh? He was upset because he couldn't shelter me from the bad emotions? Somehow I doubted that, but if that's what he wanted to tell me, so be it. I owed him a lot more than letting a couple of white lies slip through. I owed him a lot more, but after a moment of consideration I couldn't let it slip through. I'd had enough of this game. "I'm not right, Niko. Not in head, down to my DNA. I can literally hear my lineage calling to me like a freakin' red devil on my shoulder. I'm trying my damnedest to balance it out with a Niko angel one the other side, but pretty sure that will be a losing battle one day."

"You're heading voices?"

Shit, this was getting us nowhere. "I'm not schizo, don't even ask."

"I didn't."

"Just forget it," I groused. I tapped my toe to the ground to get my sneaker to shift into a better place, readying to run again. Niko grabbed my arm before I could swing away. I held up my other arm to keep him from hugging me again. I didn't want him hugging me. I didn't want him coddling me. I was beyond that. I knew he loved me, the blind fool, he didn't need to prove it with cuddles.

"You can't tell me something like that and brush it off, Cal. Are you hearing voices?"

"No, geez." I plucked his hand from my hoodie. "It isn't…damn it." How was I supposed to explain this one? "It's more like my subconscious voicing its opinion. Dark thoughts and unspoken banter that just feels so raw it has a voice of its own."

"And this started after you decided to use Kalakos' healing salve like Fun Dip candy?"

"Oh, I remember that. I always ended up eating the stick first. Do they still make it?" Niko glared at me. "No, it started after—" I stopped myself, about to say something I promised I would never say. About to bring up memories I never wanted to admit still existed. "A few months after I regained my memories during the rooftop battle with the serpent-queen."

"After the warehouse fire?"

I closed my eyes before unwanted images accosted me. A little cry for help, fires charring my skin and clothes as I barreled through to answer the call. "Sure, around that time," I said, shaking it off; both the memory and my brother's hold.

"Cal, don't you think that might be because you've been purposefully repressing certain memories around that time?"

If I considered that I would have to do that analyze thing and that wasn't a forte of mine. It was almost a blank. Those months in between. Almost as sequestered away as the memories of my life in Tumulus. Almost unreachable. I wanted it to stay that way. "I thought we were talking about how we were going to kill Grimm?"

There was a soft thump of gathered snow dropping from a tree branch. And just like that Niko let the conversation drop too and I erased it from my mind.


	8. Golden Boy - 2

**GOLDEN BOY**

_So many years with Them, no, the Auphe, bound to Tumulus, locked in a hotel room, and I'd never seen one rush to their child's side as quickly as Grimm did. He was too late, far too late, but it still stirred something strange within me. It was like the hybrids meant something more than flesh and bone, but what I didn't know. He gated directly into the caverns where the bodies had been piled up into an anthill piece by piece. I didn't see him, but I could sense him there, even from my perch overlooking the mouth of his largest breeding ground._

_Twenty-six succubae and fifty-nine young hybrids; this must have been the home for all of his children. I didn't think the Auphe bothered counting. They had been so thrilled in the chaotic slaughter that they never noticed my lack of participation, so I doubted they realized seventeen of the older children managed to escape. As warped as the inter-species offspring were, they saw my decision not to fight and took the opportunity; gating beside me instead of near an Auphe that would close the gate in the tortured creature's face, sometimes with claws or limbs caught between. I let them go and when the massacre was done, I turned to Them and grinned. "My game has started," I told them and declared that I would hunt the survivors._

_The Auphe didn't ask if I was hunting other survivors or those that escaped, if they believed any did. They praised my enthusiasm and left me there to play alone. Finally freeing me of my various four-walled prisons to hunt. I doubted they would hold true to the façade of letting me take care of the rest. The chase was too tempting, too much fun. They would be hunting the survivors, but they wouldn't know I wasn't. I didn't care about the hybrids. Even the older ones that showed strength and intelligence were none of my concern. I wanted out. And like Grimm's children, I saw the opportunity to slip away unnoticed. They would catch me again, if I took too long in my task –a task I never had any intention of completing. A lie…hm, I lied to the Auphe. Well, that was a good start._

_They would hunt me down next, but I couldn't endure anymore. I was sick of my gilded cage. Fourteen years in Tumulus without direction or destination and months imprisoned on Earth with the world just beyond a single door. I was never Heaven-bound, but I could get what I had lost without Heaven's acceptance. And I would. And when I did, I would take over Hell and make it mine, better._

_Grimm was a much needed playing piece in all this. I wished he hadn't needed to be, but I doubted I could obtain his help with more than destroying the Auphe. He would eagerly assist me with that task, but the rest…_

_I felt the static ripple of a gate opening to my back. I was watching the cavern from atop a near by red mountain. Enjoying the colorful view and the warmth of the sun. The scriptures said Hell was a vast wasteland of lava and fire, but the scriptures were wrong as I noticed they were about many other things. Hell was cold, desolate, and choked you with the dust of stones as they crumbled. The paien called it Tumulus and for a decade it had been home. By definition a __shelter__that__ is __the__ usual residence of a person, t__he __dwelling__place__or__retreat__ of __an__animal._ _But when I researched the word a quote came up: "Home is where the heart is." Tumulus was Hell, but the concept that it was a dwelling I chose to remain in, return to…if I did have a heart in my demon-spawn chest it was certainly not in Tumulus._

"_Golden boy," Grimm hissed at my back. He had found a translation for what the Auphe called me, apparently. He seemed upset, full of rage might have been the appropriate phrase. I had sensed him appear within the cavern, but I couldn't sense what he was feeling at the sight of his children murdered at his feet. I wanted to believe I would see anguish in his face when I turned to him on the cliff, but I knew I wouldn't. Grimm would not be hurt, I would see no agony or anguish for the loss of those lives; he would only morn the lost of his years of effort. Like the Auphe viewed me, Grimm only saw the hybrids as his personal pawns. The Second Coming drones to his tyrannical kingdom. He would not show me the expression a father shows when his son is gunned down on the streets, innocent or not. Grimm would never be innocent again._

_I heard the snap of those metal needles coming down over his gums, saw them glint in the dying sunlight. He said nothing more to me. Full of rage. It was an emotion every Auphe could feel. I was bored of that emotion. I wanted to see knew ones, but Grimm was limited. Like the Auphe, like me. I had been hoping he would show me something new wading through the blood of his kin. He charged at me, oblivious to how much his body was telegraphing his actions. He intended to take me off the cliff with him, but it didn't work out as he planned. A simple side step forced him to gate in front of me before he went off the side on his own and even the split-second gate didn't distract me enough to miss his throat._

_I sunk my claws into the soft flesh, watching his eyes bulge with a new emotion –fear. I'd only seen it in the humans and he only showed it to me for a moment, but it looked exactly the same. I extended the black claws further from my fingertips, the sharp points crossing within his neck and poking out the other side. Black-red blood dribbled over his tanned flesh. Grimm stiffened and grabbed onto my throat as well, but his man-made, clawed glove couldn't compare to my natural state and he knew this. The fear I saw briefly was in anticipation of death. Grimm thought I would cross my hands in front of him, removing his head. It wasn't my intention. Though the raw emotion of shock in Grimm's crimson eyes and the thick rivulets of blood cascading over my fingers from the four wounds was exhilarating and tempted me to end his life that I held in my hands._

_I needed him though, I was still learning from him –even if it was learning what I did not want to become, learning of the home I wanted to be no part of, which was why I'd only extended the two claws on each hand. Grimm had his removable, laughable, gloved claws, the Auphe had theirs permanently shining and dripping with blood from their hands, but I was something different. With my pinkie and ring finger claws in his throat he was adequately placated for the moment, without the danger of severing his spine or shaving off some of his brain matter like I might have using all my talons. I did extend the thumbs just slightly, as I cupped his face. The solid black extension of metal and bone rested just under his eye sockets, leaving a shallow slice vertical over his cheekbones._

"You side with them? After all they've done, all they can't do, you still side with those bastards."

"I side with myself."

"You destroyed years of progress," Grimm snarled at me. He dug his claws in too, but I wasn't concerned._ I interested him as much as he interested me. It was a game and he wanted to keep playing with the mouse he'd thought he caught. The warmth of my own crimson blood slipped down my neck to the hollow of my throat. Our scent was in the air now, heavy with tainted shadows. A flock of birds vacated a nearby tree, fleeing instinctually from our darkness._

"I destroyed nothing. The Auphe are not pleased with your progress. They decided to end your game, not I."

Grimm's jaw clenched, deepening the thin cuts on his cheeks. "You're speaking better."

"I'm learning."

"Learning? They're letting you learn? Well, I suppose you have me to thank for that. I could teach you, Golden boy."

"I've learned enough from you. I've learned your weakest, your failures—"

He gated behind me, arm pulling across to slice my throat._ I didn't gate, there was no need. I wanted to show him what I was. I wanted to show him I was different. Different from even him. I flexed my shoulders and that what was hidden burst forth. The pleasurable jolt of stretching a muscle long constricted seared up the length of the revealed appendages, then arced down my shoulders to my tailbone. The force of it knocked Grimm back; he hadn't predicted that and stared at me with that shock again. It was satisfying to see those blood-red pupils, just a bit more human than Theirs, wide with astonishment. _

_I pulled the wings close to my body, but left them in view. Flexing them as if to challenge Grimm, daring him to try and take me off the cliff again. They shown with bars of gold in the sunset, but in the shadow of their arch they were soot black, salted with only spots of white, as if all I had to do was wash them clean and they would be as pure as a fabled angel's white wings. I knew better. I'd tried to wash them clean, but like my hands they would never be pure. Like Grimm they would never be innocent._

"You asked me if I knew my father," I said slowly_. His rage was fading as the wheels in his head began turning. He wanted to use this new information I showed him to his advantage. I would let him entertain those thoughts; that was all they would ever be, anyway. He collected himself off the ground and stood in front of me with the respect of an equal, finally I had his attention. I flexed my wings again and smiled. My teeth weren't like Theirs, more like a humans –molars and everything, but the smile was still vicious. _"I ask you if you know my father."

Grimm laughed. "I'm more interested in your mother now." He took a step back, still chuckling. A watched a gate peel open behind him and decided I would let him go._ He wasn't going to tell me about my father, yet, but I had shown him something he wanted from me and he knew what I wanted from him. He would be back to aid me. _"Tell you what, I'll see what I can find. Give you the family you seek, your blood. And we'll go from there."

_He departed then, without expressing what he wanted from me. Not that I didn't already know. I would help him destroy the Auphe. I wouldn't rest until every last beating heart was ceased by my hand, but it ended there. What began thereafter…I hadn't decided on that yet._


	9. Chapter 5 - Cal

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**CAL**

I always enjoyed television. The mindlessness of it. The ability to just sit like a sack of rice in front of it. Hell, half the time I only had to pay attention to four minutes of the program to understand what was going on. Humans had such short attention spans and I had to say that was one aspect I held onto even if I'd given up most of my humanity to save my brother. The part where I got sick satisfaction in watching a local building explode into a blazing inferno on the news, I wasn't sure if that was human as well or pure Auphe. Of course, my glee might have had something to do with the fact that this particular building was a facility owned by a super secret faction of the human government, established to keep _paien_ activity under-wraps from the human populous as well as kidnap and experiment on said _paien_ to figure out how eradicate us if the need ever arouse.

I leaned against the bar counter that I'd just sprayed down and felt my mouth twisting into a cruel smirk. There were people dying in there. The smoke was pouring out of broken windows to join the rest of the smog and pollutants of New York life, but I couldn't find it in myself to care. Perhaps some of the little peon interns and paper pushers didn't deserve a death by rotisserie, but the scientists that found it exciting when I twitched a certain way under thrall of non-consented drugs could take their little clipboards and leap out the flames like a Phoenix that would never rise again.

"Your pyro-maniacal smile is disturbing the patrons, Caliban." I didn't take my eyes off the screen as Samyel tugged the bar rag out from under my elbow and finished the job I'd been given. It was three in the morning; later than I usually bothered to stay at the Ninth Circle, but the Friday night had been busy; the tips had been decent for a change and it kept me entertained for the most part. Kept my nerves quiet.

"They should be finishing up anyway," I countered. The Ninth threw up last call at three just like any other Manhattan bar, closed the doors for about five hours then reopened. Cops didn't wander in to see the unexplainable chaos that was a preternatural riot as long as we abided by the law.

"Why the sudden interest in the news?" Sammy asked. He took up the empty glasses from one of the last few customers and wished them a safe trip home. They'd seemed like a descent enough couple, but I doubted two vampires need any well wishes to get themselves home unless they dallied too long and the sun came up. Even then a few blisters wouldn't kill them.

"It's a Vigil facility," I replied. Funny, how that was all I needed to say to get Samyel out of my hair. Ishiah must have told them a thing or two about my trials and captivity there. The peri nodded to me and moved off to continued cleaning up behind the bar. He didn't even scold me for not participating. Danyael and Carfuel were out on the floor, chatting with regulars lagging behind, mopping the floor free of bird shit, revenant pieces, spilled alcohol and other fluids; including blood. There was a fight, like any other night, but this time I was a good boy. A spectator if you will. I felt my blood pumping and my head screaming at me to join in when a lilitu and a werewolf bitch start going at each other with claws and bared teeth. I had no idea what the argument was about, but the result was interesting. Werewolves were a dime a dozen in NYC because of the Kin, but the lilitu… Well, the first time I'd even seen one was almost a year ago at the Panic.

A hundred pucks and an equal amount of lion-eagle bipedal sex-maniacs had been shoved in this bar, fucking all over the place and I meant _all_ over the place. It was disturbing to say the least, and as sexually depraved as I'd been at the time it was still way too much to take in sober. Nik and I survived that job/favor to Robin and quickly tucked it away into memories we never wished to access ever again. I had a few trunks full of those by now. After that I noticed a few of the lili and lilitu remained in the city. Just a few and they were pretty calm creatures as long as they were sated sexually.

This one had obviously not gotten her nookie quota or she was PMSing because whatever the flea-bag Wolf said spawned the furriest humanoid cat fight I had ever seen. Tuffs of tawny gold and deep gray flew about the bar as they tore into each other. It literally sounded like a lion and a wolf battle royale. I watched with interest and twitching fingers. Carfuel pried them apart with the steel baseball bat we kept behind the bar and knocked the Wolf in the skull. The lilitu retreated in respect toward the peri, or maybe it was respect toward an employee of the establishment, hell I didn't know lilitu culture. It ended quickly and the Kin werewolves were shown the door. There were a few other skirmishes too, but no casualties tonight, which was another reason Samyel wasn't demanding I help with clean up.

I turned up the volume on the television to hear the news caster over the clink and clatter of glasses being put away and chairs being upturned onto tables. "Officials" apparently had no idea what caused the explosion; my bets were on them claiming it was faulty wiring or a gas leak or some other bullshit that the humans only bought because they wanted to feel safe and in control of their world. And if the Vigil didn't have any leads then I didn't doubt that some asshole was going to show up at my door soon to question me about it. I had every reason to kill them all. Wasn't really sure why I didn't.

Fourteen killed, fifteen injured. That was more than just an explosion. The Vigil were humans, but they were well trained marine, black-ops type humans. An explosion would have been avoided. Those buildings had built in precautionary measures for that stuff. I knew; I assisted in exploding one once. I shifted when my cell phone went off, pulled it out of my pocket, and set it to my ear. "Yeah?"

"Are you still at the bar?" Niko's voice sounded heavy with caution and a little distraction. I could hear the program echoing through the cell just as second after the television at the Ninth. Niko was watching too. He seemed to realize the same as I opened my mouth to tell him. "Fourteen is too many for them to have been killed by the explosion, unless the attack was focused on the office fence on the first floor, which is doubtful."

"I was thinking the same. You think the fire was to erase evidence of the attack or just a result of it?"

"Depends on who was attacking," Niko muttered. The Vigil facilities were well guarded and often hidden in plain sight. A human terrorist wouldn't just waltz in to bomb the offices in the front that did a great impression of every other cubicle forest in that area; even their fake company was pretty commonplace to avoid suspicion. This was premeditated or at least purposeful. Niko seemed to follow the same line of thought as he continued. "For someone to attack them so visibly, they would either not be concerned about human concealment or their plan went awry."

"Or they didn't have to worry about being seen," I commented. "There are Wendigo, Bae, and I'm sure a dozen other species that you will quickly educate me on, that can slip out undetected. Why they would want to is beyond me, but," I gave a shrug even if Niko could see it. "They could if they wanted too."

"It's just strange. Do you believe it was Grimm?"

I considered this for a moment. Grimm was an equal-opportunistic hater, but he had a special place in his heart for humans and Auphe. Maybe because no one hugged him as a child, who the hell knew? He thought of humans as a waste of space and a tasty meal or play toy and the Auphe…well, they were enemy one. _If _he knew they were alive. Ah, you know I would probably be better off just assuming he did. Regardless, torturing and setting fire to humans huddled in an office would be like put a toddler in a playpen with a bowl of spaghetti for Grimm. He would have a damned fine time and make a right gory mess, but why target the Vigil?

"If he wanted to send a message to me or even if he was just playing around it would have been the whole block," I told Niko. Grimm would have made sure there wasn't a living soul to claim they saw him, mostly because I would know it was him just by the dead bodies. "He wouldn't be sloppy enough to call so much attention to himself either, unless he wanted it. I don't think he wants it yet. He needs a bigger army before he even attempt to take down the human race. Pretty sure he'll be coming after me before billions of people anyway."

"I assume as much as well. This was a focused attack. Someone wanted to hit the Vigil for a purpose."

"Maybe someone was springing auntie manticore from prison." Niko hummed in consideration at my comment, but obviously didn't agree. I sighed and pushed up from the counter. I turned off the television, grabbed my jacket, and headed for the front door. Samyel waved a goodbye to me; no one commented on me ducking out before we locked up. I wasn't the reliable employee. The only reason Ishiah gave me the keys to the bar during the Panic was because Niko would be there with me and no _paien_ would be caught dead around that many pheromone-al pucks at once. "Nik, not everything revolves around the shit we're going through. There were a lot of monsters down there that had nothing to do with me or Grimm."

"I don't like coincidences."

"Yeah well, I don't like bran muffins, but they still happen." I heard him let off a short breath into the receiver. Not a sigh or an inaudible groan; that was a laugh. I smiled to myself as I walked. Hearing that little half-sound, surprisingly, made me feel a lot better for all the crap I'd been dragging my brother through lately, because a lot of it _was_ me-centric. Even the dealings with his father seemed overshadowed by Grimm and all his bastard-y glory. It was no surprised Nik thought this might be connected. "But if you're so concerned just have Promise call up your secret Vigil connection to feed us some more horrible intel."

"Come home soon; I miss you," Niko countered and cut the line. I smirked at the sarcasm that managed to drift through and slipped the phone into my jacket pocket. He probably _would_ call them up too. Whatever, I was little curious about that fire myself, and hey, then they wouldn't put me on as prime suspect if we brought it up first.

I started up at the clear sky, seeing the smoke billowing from the distant fire. Well, if it was someone breaking their cousin out of the Vigil lab I hoped they succeeded. That place sucked balls.

The next morning when I exited my room, I groaned upon seeing my first visitor of the day lounging on my living room couch as if he owned the place. "Morning, Sunshine." It was the afternoon, technically, but I didn't think that was Robin's point.

"Funny, I thought for sure I would be puck-free for another three days."

"Took an early flight back." Robin stood from the couch and made his way over to me. His head tilted, emphatically pointing out I was still limping slightly. It was just muscle tension at this point, probably from my brother forcing me to overexert it yesterday and the night before. It wouldn't slow me down. "There's only so much of the Assembly I can handle."

"I'm sure that feeling is mutual," I responded. I assumed the Assembly was the peri mafia or maybe peri United Nation would be more proper. I tugged the milk out of the fridge and poured myself a glass as Goodfellow plopped himself down at the island. I took a chug and waited for him to start ranting or raving or general just vomit up words about his trip. When the verbal onslaught of nothing I cared about didn't happen, I felt my brow wrinkle. "What's wrong?"

Robin's mouth twisted up into a surly smile, his green eyes hooded for a moment. "I have something I need to ask you, but I doubt you will appreciate supplying the answer."

"When do I ever?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Niko making his way around the partition that hid the hallway into his and Promise's suite from immediate sight. He braced a shoulder to the wall and waited. His expression was nothing short of somber and Robin's cautious words were making me nervous. "I'm not babysitting another pack of pucks, Goodfellow. I don't care how much you pay me."

Robin rolled his eyes. "It is doubtful even with your altered aging process that you will even be alive for the next Panic, don't worry your virginal posterior over it. No, this may well be an even more delicate topic for which I have no choice in bringing up."

"Get to the point, or I'm going back to bed." I was still in my tee and flannel pants so the threat was very real.

"Ishiah is remaining with the Assembly as a new series of events have started occurring among the peris. And since they've moved from Las Vegas to the painfully dull providences of Nebraska and Wyoming, I saw little reason for me to remain. A gem might still shine in the desert but—"

"Loman, out with it," I snapped. Oversleeping made me sleepy and when I was sleepy I didn't like listening to friends babble on and on, especially when the conversation is prefaced with 'you won't like this, but'. "What do you want?"

Niko edged closer, standing on one side of the island so he effectively cut off one exit route for me. He was too good not to know it either, which meant (with Robin nearer to the other side) they expected me to flee this conversation. "It's regarding our dear friend Grimm."

"Great. Do you have a location because I will be more than happy to relieve the world of that worry."

"He's begun kidnapping the peris, Cal," Robin replied, his tone no longer flippant and candid. "From what we can tell, he's using them in the same manner as the succubae, which is strange considering not only do peris breed less often than succubae, but they have a specific period when they _can_ produce hatchlings within a Gregorian calendar year. Grimm seems to value efficiency over quality, so why has he changed course?"

I felt a tightness run up my spine, but shook it off with a shrug. "He's getting inventive. My apologies to the peris, but what the hell does that have to do with me?"

"You didn't tell him anything? Let something slip?"

For some odd reason my legs were readying to run. "Because Grimm and I shared so many intimate talks over tea."

Robin sighed, glanced over at Niko as if asking for permission to fuck up every wall that I had erected just to avoid the feelings boiling inside me. I knew what he was getting at. I knew what he was about to dredge up, because as much as I tried I couldn't bury certain memories deeply enough into my subconscious to forget they existed it didn't work. They were always there, in the back of my mind like little flickers of light from trick birthday candles. I'd erased memories before, even without the help of a nasty ancient spider bite. The two years I spent in Tumulus, I repressed the tortures and horrors from that ordeal, but I couldn't do the same with those moments of contentment and happiness that had been stripped away from me as quickly as I felt them. I tried and I had gotten close and now the puck was about to ruin all my hard work.

"I'm talking about your son, Cal. That you had with my best friend, who happened to be half peri."

"I've never had a son, Robin." My level tone was hardly convincing, but it was all I had left, lie and denial. If I didn't it would come back. I would stop sleeping again. Food would taste like shit again. Niko would worry again. "Just me and Nik, that's all it's ever been."

"Don't you think it's cruel?" Goodfellow countered. He wasn't relaxed on the barstool anymore. In fact he looked as close to the edge of rage as I was. "Everything they gave you, especially Cas—"

"Don't fucking do it, puck."

"You disrespect her by pretended in never happened!"

"I didn't tell Grimm!" I shouted right back at him, ready to run, ready to go full sprint if I had to. Over the counter, foot to Goodfellow's face, I didn't care. I wanted out of this conversation and I didn't care how it happened. Oh, right, forgot about that little trick up my sleeve. "Not one word," I growled out my assurance to the puck and my brother and gated into my doorway, slamming the door shut like a twelve year old denied cell phone privileges.

It would have worked too, only Goodfellow didn't have the same respect for space as my brother did. In his defense he knocked first and I answered with a quick, "Fuck off, Loman."

"Caliban, I'm not allowing you to run from this anymore. We have already permitted your pointless denial for too long." I refused to answer him. Standing in the middle of my huge room, I felt sick to my stomach. It had been so easy, especially moving in here; a place where I had shared nothing with them. Promise had even gotten me a new bed. Everything was new, untouched by her unforgiving scent, unscarred by his reckless curiosities.

Within two seconds the lock on my bedroom door was undone and Robin was invading. "I'm done with this, Caliban. I only went along with it because your over-protective brother asked me too, but I'm done. You can't just pretend she was never here, trust me I've tried. And your son, your blood-born son! It is cruel and disrespectful and cold-hearted for you to deny he existed! No matter the mistakes we've made, no matter the guilt you may feel, he and Cassie _gave _you something and to preserve yourself you should never be forgetting that!"

I took a swing at him when he came close enough, just behind me on my left side. He blocked the high punch with his arm and planted his own fist into my ribs with a quick jab. I grunted, swung my arm over his head and jerked it back to elbow him in the temple. He swept my feet out from under me the moment I felt skin, but I was gone before my back hit the ground. Behind him and shoving him to the ground with my foot to his spine. He rolled, grabbed my leg, and twisted to bring me down with him. I let him, but angled it so my knee wedged right under his chin, pressing down on his trachea. I pulled a hand back to punch him square in that ever-yapping jaw. He forced me to stop the motion with a hidden blade to my throat.

"Enough!" We had already stopped in the stalemate, but the command was from the owner of the house so I pushed back from Goodfellow in retreat. Given time, he would have kicked my ass anyway. I wasn't narcissistic enough to think I could best a creature that predated the stone hatchet in hand-to-hand combat. I didn't want to kill him. I liked him, most of the time, and killing him would have been the only way I could win. We were both pulling punches.

Promise, who had left us space until now by retreating to her side of the penthouse, had on her slit-eyed glare and actually placed a hand on my chest when I attempted to leave the room. "Control yourself, Cal. I know this hurts. I know how painful unwanted memories can be."

"What more do you want from me?" I growled. Niko was standing just outside my room, a step behind Promise…another obstacle in my way.

_Then removed the obstacles and no one will stand in your way. Ego, calm, and conscious all at once. Gone with one gate._

I took a step back from Promise, inwardly telling the devil on my back to shut the hell up. I knew how easy it would be. One gate to take them all to Tumulus and another to leave them there. So simple, so clean. I didn't even have to watch if I didn't want to.

I did watch though. I watched Niko's gray eyes flicker over my shoulder; his mouth twitched in some sort of signal. Then I felt the air sweep against my hair and a split second after the back of Robin's fist hit my temple. I cursed and side stepped from the pain. I needed that. It cleared my head a little; flushed out all those crazy-person thoughts.

"Are you finished that horribly ill attempt at besting a champion of literally every weapon known to mankind?"

"How are you with a Nerf gun, cause I'm pretty badass." Robin's shoulders relaxed at that, taking the joke as indication that I was in my right mind again. The puck slung his arm over my shoulder, effectively dragging me back out of my room in a headlock. "Hey, what the hell, I thought we were done!"

"Done with that little skirmish, yes." I shoved him off of me a foot away from my door, refusing to go any further. Refusing the chair he pulled out for me at the kitchenette too. "We are not, however, done discussing your convenient memory loss. And now we get to discuss the misuse of your little gates as well."

"I already told you that I never spoke a word of this to Grimm. If he found out about Cassie," I sucked in a breath at the name and felt that emotional bullet strike. I took in a few breaths as everything came back for one second. Like a waking dream; her smile, her eyes, her scent, her touch, the image of her grinning mischievously as she walked her fingers over my chest, her wings already unfurled and wrapping around us to lure me closer for a kiss. Then it was gone, like a wisp of smoke. "He found out through other means, if he found out at all. I can't help the peris, Robin. I can't even freakin' help myself."

He stood beside me with his arms crossed over his pressed clothes. Promise and Niko were visible just over his shoulder; I didn't even know who they would back up in this argument, but I doubted it was me. So much for family loyalty.

"Then let's not talk about Grimm," Robin rebuked and lifted his eyebrows in challenge.

"No, that's it. We agreed, Robin," Niko cut in. Oh, they agree huh? Again making plans and promises behind my back _about_ me. It didn't matter that Niko was speaking in defense of my forced amnesia, my anger started boiling again. My neck cracked with tension when I stretched it.

"She was my best friend before either of you were ever born. You don't think it hurts me to know her ashes are displayed over my fireplace? You don't think it kills me everyday known that she will never be there at my side again? And I mean again, because I lost her before, _still _more times than any of you!" I didn't care how valid Goodfellow's points were. How true they were didn't matter. I didn't want to hear it. They agreed, apparently, to only talk about those we lost in reference to Grimm. That had been said and done, so I was done.

I said nothing to Goodfellow, staring at him and hoping all the violent intentions running through my head were clear in my eyes. He leaned forward, his own green eyes without a hint of their usual mischievous smile. "She died to avenge your worthless life and you honor that by denying her existence. Or perhaps I should translate that into a language you understand: Fuck you, Caliban. Fuck you and your childish desperation to make sure the pity falls on you."

Niko tore him back from me, but I was already walking away. This time I quietly shut the door. Inside was another story. Inside I broke. I grabbed the closest thing to me and smashed it against the wall, then the next closest thing. A lamp, my sheets, my boots, a towel, my fist to the wall. Promise's were made a bit better than any other apartment I'd been in so that last one hurt quite a bit and only cracked the plaster instead of shot a hole right into it. I sunk to my ass with my back to my bed and tried to stop myself from breaking anything else.

I'd done so well. I'd been doing so well forgetting them. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. It was no use now. If that bastard was after peris then he had found out. Robin was right, there was no logical reason for him to shift focus to procreation with them. Peris were stronger than succubae too, physically and definitely community-wise. The peris had also _warred_ with the Auphe around the dawn of time. He was running a risk taking peris. The clans would come down on him hard once they found out; me too probably, because to them all half-Auphe were the same. So what was his ploy?

_To get you to play again. The game was never over._

Attacking peris because he knew about Cassie and he wanted me to know he knew? That seemed convoluted even for him. If he knew about Dante too…

"Fuck." Just thinking their names brought a rock the size of a cantaloupe to form in my chest. I could almost feel it push against my ribs when I took in a breath. It wasn't important. My emotions weren't important because that was past, dead and gone. Nothing I could do to change that. All I could do was use it as information and figure out Grimm's plans. Create another Dante? Sleeping with a peri, producing a child with a peri, wouldn't do that. That child would be as watered down as the Bae. A wimpy version of Cassie maybe? The child would be mostly peri…I doubted it would be able to open a gate, but that wouldn't stop Grimm from trying.

"Cal?" Big brother gave my door a quick knock as he opened it. He let himself in when he saw I had calmed down and plopped myself in front of my bed. "I didn't hear anymore crashes so I figured I should check on you. When you were a kid you always got into the most trouble when you were quiet."

"It wouldn't make Dante," I muttered. Niko closed my bedroom door and walked over to sit beside me with our backs to the footboard. He crooks his legs up and propped his arms to his knees as I sat crumpled and slouched. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't know what the hell I was talking about, but this was Niko –King of Cal-speak.

"I agree. The product of that joining, Grimm and full peri, wouldn't be much stronger than the Bae regarding the Auphe genetics. If one honed their fighting skills they might be more of a challenge, but I don't think the gating aspect would translate."

"So why?"

"I believe that was what we were asking when you decided to storm off in a huff. Twice."

"You know exactly why I did that," I growled and gave my brother a glare.

He didn't let up. "You gated without need again."

"You were cornering me."

Niko sighed and touched a hand to the back of my head. It forced my chin to my chest. I had lost so much energy from my tirade on the room that I didn't even move to brush him off. "I'm sorry, Cal. We waited as long as we could." He wasn't talking about the discussion was just had, well, not directly. He and Robin…Promise and Ishiah too, they all humored me. They never spoke of Cassie and Dante; they helped me pretend they were never there. They waited until they had no choice in bringing it up, breaking my façade of a monster without a cause. Obviously, that hurt Robin the most, considering that was the first time he'd seriously cursed at me. Even almost getting him killed a couple times hadn't dredged up that kind of venom.

"Do you think Grimm's calling me? Come out and play?"

"Possibly. Or perhaps he didn't get the full story? Perhaps he thinks you had a child with a full peri. Many _paien_, even some peri clans, don't believe Castiella is even real. She is a myth, a legend, or a nightmare. Maybe Grimm was misled?"

"I don't know what I can do for the peris. I can't even find Grimm myself."

Niko hummed softly. I could tell by the sound that his tongue was pressed to the back of his teeth; he wanted to press the previous issue, but was hesitant. I pushed his hand from my head and dropped back so I was staring at the ceiling. "Go on. There was another part to all this, wasn't there?"

"Ishiah sent Robin here to ask us for aid. The peris' Assembly is actually offering us a job."

I snorted. "I thought they despised me."

"I guess Ishiah was able to talk you up enough for them to surrender. Apparently, several clans are missing women. The stories unraveling from the peris' mouths are vastly different, but most confirm that it was an Auphe-like creature that attacked and took the females. Grimm and the Bae have probably been holding them captive. The first females to go missing were found slaughtered and…used miles from the clans' village. Their wounds match both Auphe and Succubae attacks." Niko touched one finger to the mala beads he wore. I had my own set, given to me from him as a sort of stress relief/grounding item. They served the same purpose for him. He rolled one of the gray beads again and again as he spoke. For the first time, I realized how much this entire situation bothered him.

Niko served a higher intellectual philosophy. In no way was my brother religious, but he had his ninja warrior code, I supposed. It was a bit lenient when it came to doing nasty things to get a result, but sacrificing innocents and taking away one's free will were up there in the 'sins never to commit' column. Grimm was doing both, many times over. From killing his teachers because he could to raping these succubae and peris, Grimm was pissing on every inch of Niko's code and not even pausing to consider my brother as any more of a threat than the humans he called cattle. Niko's ego could survive that, but his conscious could not.

"Tell me about the job?"

"Search and rescue, I suppose. The peris are hiring you because you have the ability to sense when Grimm is near. You might be able to track his hideouts. Save some of their loved ones. And if we're lucky, we kill Grimm." Niko replied as if he hasn't paused for that long moment.

I scoffed again. "Does that mean another road trip?"

Niko nodded and lifted himself from my carpet. I groaned, not realizing it would come to that right away. "Fine, but can we take Promise's car? Her seats are heated."


	10. Golden Boy - 3

**GOLDEN BOY**

_There were an infinite amount of possibilities in the world, most of them unseen and untraveled. This was why coincidence and serendipity, karma and fate came into existence. Just words to explain the uncanny crossing of paths. A man desperate need for a new car walks into a dealership, finds the one he wants on sale for one day. He buys it chats nicely with the saleswoman and ends up getting a date that leads into a courtship and then the initiation of marriage. That was fate to him. But if that man goes to shop for new car the day before the sale, haggles, gets belligerent with the salesperson, then gets into an accident turning out of the lot that was karma. Funny, when it was the man's choices that ultimately decided the outcome. If he had been stalking the woman at the dealership would it still be fate? If he had waited three more seconds at the turn and gone home safely would it still be considered karma? He did not get a car after all. _

_Words were just a string of sounds produced by the mouth given a visual representation. They had no meaning lest we gave them meaning and every word of every language was open to interpretation. Yet somehow people (humans and paien alike) put emotion and 'faith' in terms like fate and serendipity when it was always consecutive decisions that brought about a reaction, a result, an end…_

_Nevertheless, even I had to question the existence of something else, something grand, guiding me. Guiding me away from the Auphe days before the memories of something better would fade completely. Guiding me to Grimm's caverns. Implanting the thought of parents and belonging as if it was attainable. I knew it could never be, but that didn't stop my mind from wandering. Recalling the scent of milk and earth. That sweet voice lulling me to sleep as we hid in darkness. We hid. We. I knew it was a woman's arms I huddled into, but I couldn't remember her face. The memories were so distant I could reach them no more than a boat could reach a horizon. Or perhaps they weren't memories at all, but psychological drabble creating illusion of something I never had and could never feasibly gain._

_It brought me here. It was my decision to come back to the caverns. It was my decision to see if Grimm remained. My curiosity to collect more pieces of myself that he obviously held and my desire to seek an understanding for what he decided was right for his path. My choices brought me there on a day he did not appear. And another decision presented itself in that turn._

_Grimm was still using the cavern for breeding; probably assuming the Auphe would be too bored with the same slaughtering ground or too stubborn to retrace their efforts. He may have been right. The bodies of his begotten children were piled up with the ones I had previously seen. Decomposing shells now no different than the dead succubae that bore them and the half-eaten corpses of discarded meals. The smell was rancid and permeated throughout the tunnels. I moved on quickly._

_The dank area Grimm had brought me to that held the offspring before was filled with two dozen infant hybrids, cared for by several older siblings. They bared metal fangs at my presence and skittered back in the corners. Unhappy that I encroached on their territory, but too frightened to challenge one clearly as strong as the father. They asked to be spared. Grimm would punish them if anything were to happen to the nest. I decided to leave them. They had a right to make their own choices. Killing a child, no matter how pitiful its existence, seemed unnecessary. I would wait until they could strike at me, otherwise it was no more satisfying than kicking a puppy. Actually, I found puppies quite…what was the word? Warm? Their insatiable need to seek physical contact from any creature even one such as myself was interesting. _

_The succubae were all but shriveled corpses in their own cavern. Starved of both sexual energies and any other sustenance. I wondered why Grimm had allowed such poor treatment to befall his incubators. Perhaps he had abandoned this honeycomb of tunnels after all and I was only seeing what was left. Dried up succubae and scavenging hybrids. _

_None of the deteriorated creatures resisted when I approached. I lifted the body of one and pierced the venomous gland in the back of her throat, just under the cerebellum. It was a precaution for myself. Succubae and Incubi had the ability to subdue their victims if consent wasn't given. I had heard research claim its potency had lessened over centuries as they had no need for the tactic with the depravity of humans so high. I was not willing to allow any handicap to limit me if Grimm did remain even if I didn't sense him._

_The act was unnecessary as it were. The gland had already been pierced; no doubt, by Grimm for the same reasons. I continued the kill by driving my nails into her chest, just below the sternum. The razor talons vibrated as I scrapped rib to get to the slow pulse of her heart. I shredded it quickly. She sagged against my arm without a fight. As did the second succubae and the third. By the forth the females lied down before me. I no longer needed to check for venom. They silently pleaded for death and I was their reaper. I left his abandoned breeding ground barren and took my leave from the chamber. _

_My next choice brought me to descend further into the tunnels, instead of leave. There were hushed whispered carrying on the air and I was curious. They danced along the sedimentary walls like a wind's song, each voice melodic and trembling. As I drew closer the scent of raw meat eaten away by maggots and bacteria was softened by that of lavender, sage, and honeysuckle. Freesia, violets, and even fresh ivy. I expected to approach an underground grove of wildflowers and what I found was the consequence of one of my decisions._

_They stared. Like the hybrids, hackles up, but too frightened and tortured to attack. There were more than two dozen, each with a pair of heavy white wings on their backs. Peris. Females. Taken from their clans for Grimm's depraved ambitions. My decision to show him my own tainted wings brought us here, but I was not at fault. I could not be blamed for his actions, though I could certainly make my own._

"_Monster," one of the peris hissed out. They were spread across the large cavern; blankets for beds and puddles of cave water for drink. Another pile of raw meat steamed in the corner, but remained untouched. It was not in the peris nature to eat their own. There were still feathers left un-plucked on the flesh. The women were varying in age, but not in coloring. Each had a different shade of the same dusky tan to their skin. Dark hair and eyes, long noses and square jaws. They came from the same clan._

"_He is like the other one."_

"_Don't. Please no, please."_

"_Abomination, don't touch me!"_

_I hadn't even taken more than one step into the cavern when their cries started to bleed together, but the language was English. Their wings were all barred with the burnt sienna color of red clay; another clear indication that they all hailed from the small bloodlines. They were battered, torn, and taken by Grimm for his own ill-minded purposes. That had not been their choice. They were too weak to realize their decisions against someone as nefarious as Grimm. His actions might not have even been conceivable to them until now. But their feigned aggression toward me, gave me no fear. They would fair no better opposing me, especially in their current state. Yet, I still had a decision; ask or kill?_

_Killing them was a much easier task. Asking questions always led to excessive pauses and a quandary of more questions I wasn't willing or able to supply. I asked anyway. There was no need to kill them if they felt as if they could continue on in their life even after what they had experienced. So I asked live or die and waited for them to choose._

_Most didn't understand. Gaping at me as if were about to disrobe and forcibly mate with them too. Or flash my claws and eviscerate them with the relish of my guardians. I approached the first in the same calm manner I drew near to the first succubae. This female didn't gaze at me with baleful, empty eyes. Her pupils contracted with fear, her dirt stained wings lurched tightly to her body, and she scrambled to get away from me. I told her I wasn't interested in her womb or what it could produce. I attempted assurance, telling them they had to choose their freedom through life or death. Silence greeted me in reply with the occasional whimper and bodily shifting of nervousness. I didn't want to repeat myself a third time._

"Don't kill us."

I paused at that.

_The voice was strong and steady, unlike the rest of these trembling females. She stood up, despite an ally attempting to drag her back down to be unseen among her brethren. The peri shook her kin off and straightened herself, lifting her chin before me. There was a body at her feet, unconscious and wingless. Two more on the ground to either side of her in various recumbent states, both seemed to keep distances from the wingless one._

"Don't kill you."

"We want to live," she answered, almost interrupting my reiteration. I tilted my head at her bravado. _She was younger than most here. Her wings were still shedding the downy feathers of fledgling-hood like mine had started to just this year. Her hair was ebony like the others, thick to her shoulders in lush waves. Her eyes slanted down, just a fraction, but their dark iris' and widened pupils were striking as they met mine without blinking. Perhaps not daring too._

"If those are our only options we chose to live. In order to find a way to fight him to our freedom." _Her jaw was a pronounced square and her nose thin and long, but it suited her better than most in the cavern. With skin the color of a light mocha and her hooded stare she looked reminiscent if an Iroquois princess. She still had an aura of strength; something she would need to help her people overcome this event._

"Most creatures seem to have names. Do you have one?"

She seemed confused by my question for a moment. Her arched eyebrows pulling in. "Nova."

"Stop, don't trust him." The warning came from a peri on the opposite side of the chamber. She crawled out of the shadows like a wounded rabbit, wagging her skinned finger and babbling in a language I was unfamiliar with.

The peri named Nova disregarded the elder female, continuing to keep her eyes fixed on me. "You're different."

"I am."

There was nothing else to say after that. Not to Nova. "Does Nova speak for all in her clan here?"

No one answered. I sighed._ Words were relative, but they were still necessary, especially when I was so inept in regards to body language. The peris were too petrified to telegraph much more than that visceral emotion alone. I had to assume they were revoking their right to chose and allowing the young Nova to decide for them. If their choice was truly death there were various means for them to accomplish that if they so desired._

_I splayed my fingers toward the ground, if nothing more than from habit. The power coursed through my veins from my core, but didn't pour out of me. It felt more like how telekinesis is described. My mind digging metaphoric nails into the very fabric of space and prying. It used to give pain like the stretching of muscles. Now it wasn't even much prying as it was asking a door to open and feeling the breeze it kicked up. This gate, as powerful as it was and as practiced as I had become, was weak –thin. They became such when I had to cover large spaces. I doubted the peris would crowd together even if asked._

_Not that it mattered. It was over in a second's passing and chilled, browned grass replaced the rough terrain of the cave under my feet. The peri reacted unfavorably to the spatial shift. Some broke down wailing or sobbing, some seized with their wings convulsing as if I gripped their spines in my hand. Many retched and stumbled on the new territory. Even those unconscious writhed as if shocked by an electrical current, save for the one wingless peri at Nova's feet. She was possibly dead already, but such was not my concern. Their path was determined by their actions now. _

_I slipped my hands in the pockets of my jeans and started up the hill to my current hideaway. Nova called to my back with the simple phrase of 'hey, wait.' Again, her elders admonished her. Those that had recovered from the gate, at least._

_I paused, pivoting just enough to view her. It was proper to make eye contact during a conversation._ "Yes?"

"You're just letting us go?"

"I have no need for you or your kin."

She glanced down at her family, scattered on the grass just as they had been in the cavern. _In various states of agony and trepidation, they huddled, barely able to crawl to another's aid. It was disheartening to see such a proud race fallen to my antagonistic, embittered relative._

"Some are too wounded to travel, I gather." _I wasn't sure of the words, but I spoke them all the same. I thought of the priest and his scriptures. Of how one should aid their fellow man to grow in the eyes of 'the lord'. I held no delusions that even one exalted could look upon me with anything other than repulsion, but I still felt my task incomplete leaving these broken angels prostrate and supine at my feet_. "You can bring those willing into the house. Utilize what you will, rest, heal. Then return to your families as I'm sure they fear the worse of you."

Nova's dark eyes flickered to the house then settled on me. _She didn't speak so I turned and started back up the path to the little abandoned farm house. I would offer no help in bringing in the wounded. The peris were too prideful to allow a creature they had warred with for quite a few millennia to aid them, even if I wasn't full Auphe._

_The farm house was warm, even in the winter months; far enough into the southern regions of the United States to remain dry and chilled without the devastating snow of Canada or Greenland. English was possibly the most difficult language to grasp, but its impact and intrusion on the rest of the world was unavoidable. Most countries allowed for the probability that one person used it, making it necessary to learn for communication during travel. I preferred the States, regardless. It felt different here and challenged my ability to communicate and understand the humans and paien more than any other. No one was straightforward. Everyone was corrupt. It was interesting._

_I didn't know what happened to the previous owners of my chosen shelter. If they were killed, moved without selling, or fell victim to the economy crash and had to abandon a lost cause. I also didn't dwell on it. It was a warm shelter, still held supplies I could use. The indigence of this country even allowed me to gain electricity and the internet under a pseudonym. Though that would soon shut off if I continued to leave the services unpaid. By the end of the month, I would either have to return to gaining winnings on gambling sites or dip into the funds I was given when I escaped my hotel prison. Or maybe I would just move. If I stayed stationary for too long it might raise suspicions with the Auphe. Disposing of the succubae in Grimm's chambers would get me praise, even if it was a mercy killing, but freeing the peris would be unacceptable, unless I could convince them I planned to hunt the females the moment they felt safe again._

_In the room I used to sleep in, I sat on the bed and found myself contemplating Grimm as well as distantly listening to the peris settle themselves downstairs. I was surprised that they risked my offer. Nova might have been strong enough to lead them, but she was obviously young and not many elders would submit to her no matter the situation. The peris knew I was part Auphe, no other creature could create a gate save for other hybrids like Grimm and his offspring. Peris loathed the Auphe from wars transpiring before the humans domesticated their food. They held grudges for those slaughters and the Auphe's generally deleterious behavior. They celebrated the humans when the growing population pushed the Auphe to retreat into their own realm. _

_Part of me was curious to know if it was another realm at all. The surface was similar to depictions and descriptions of the moon only with a vast gray horizon and functioning gravity. Oxygen deprivation didn't seem to be an issue either. So perhaps a different planetary satellite? One with gravity and a gaseous upper atmosphere? Or perhaps underground on this planet or in a desolate area that couldn't be inhabited by anything other than the baneful Auphe race._

_Tumulus was vast. If it were underground the ceiling was more than ten thousand feet; I flew to check and only got that far before I feared the fall of Icarus. I'd also attempted to travel outside of Tumulus and Earth dimension without success. One would assume if a second plane of existence existed how can there not be more? Theories of what most humans called science fiction intrigued me for this reason. What was Tumulus? Was it a parallel dimension? Was it the true existence of its mythological brother, Tartarus? There were so many questions unanswered—_

My thoughts ceased for a moment to listen as slow footsteps ascended the stairs._ Previously, it had been the sounds of the calm in a war. When the soldiers dragged in the dead and wounded to treat and pray over. It was no different with all females. The scrape of furniture being moved to serve as makeshift gurneys or just shoved out of the way. The slam and rumble of unfamiliar drawers being open, shut, and turned over in search of instruments and medical equipment to use. I had heard a steady voice or two among the wails and whimpers and a single scream. Now it was nearly silent, save for the constant trill of someone crying. It made the footsteps to my door very audible. She wasn't attempting to hide them. Her gate was naturally soft, but when she arrived at the open threshold to find me waiting for her she wasn't alarmed. It was Nova, as I suspected._

"There are four injured in the house along with myself and another to help. Her name is Tallulah."

I nodded. She was giving me this information as a respect. "Were there five?" I was curious; the scream I'd heard and the burst of activity thereafter lasted the amount of time and with the same influx and decrescendo of one, trying to be saved, dying. I assumed one of the peri had taken her own life, despite Nova's attempts to keep her kin alive. Nova bowed her head in remorse, an indication that I was correct. It was also a rather attractive emotion on her. Her square jaw dipped down to be shadowed at an angle. Her thick lashes hooding in a sweeping semi-circle and her dark eyebrows drawing in toward the bridge of her slender nose.

"One of the mothers took her own life. Unable to…cope."

"As she chose." Nova lifted her eyes to me. Her upper lip was more pronounce than the lower. Pulled up at the tip without much of a bow. It was a flaw, but, like the scar that spilt the end of one eyebrow, it suited her. "She chose that path. Who are you to deny her that choice?"

"A philanthropic Auphe," she muttered, almost to herself. "I think I've seen it all now."

I frowned at the dry comment. "That is impossible. Earth alone holds too many images for you to have beheld them all. And that isn't even considering your young age. With the birth and death rate of all beings continuing at an infinite line, or circle if you would rather, the images you see or have the potential of seeing change every fraction of a second." Nova was staring at me in bewilderment; the way most humans did when I attempted to communicate, which was also the same way people started at creatures who had lost certain functions in their brains. I shifted and stood quickly to avoid that gawking expression. I walked over to the window, my back to her. "Maybe that isn't what you meant, but it's true. And that is only when taking the phrase literally. If you meant it metaphorically then possibilities are just as limitless."

Outside I could see the trails in the long, straw grass where the peris dragged and carried their injured into the house._ Other than a few shed feathers there was no sign of those that fled; abandoning their family in fear of me. I wondered if many of them would overcome their trauma. How many would rather die than continue on?_

"It was a joke." Nova spoke behind me after what would have been an uncomfortable silence had I been paying attention.

"I don't often understand those."

"I gathered."

I felt her moving further into the room, skirting the perimeter in caution. I didn't turn around. She was testing me, but not to challenge. She had a right to be wary of me. "How long were you with them?"

"Who?"

"The Auphe." I didn't ask how she knew I had been their caged pet. Even I knew my reactions and behavior were similar to that of an agoraphobic or psychiatry. I probably had the feel of a man in hiding as well. Sequestered away on this farm.

"I don't know."

"Is time that irrelevant there? Do you not remember when you were taken from your mother? Or was it your father that was human?"

"I'm not human."

"Part of you has to be. The Auphe have only mated with humans. At least in this millennia. Your mother or father would have to be human—"

I flashed her a glare over my shoulder, knowing well my gray eyes were bleeding into lava red. Something I inherited from my malicious cousins. Nova, who had managed the courage to step only a few feet away from me, retreated quickly. She shifted on her feet in the threshold of my room, fear finally exposed. "I'm sorry. I've said too much." She departed from my room before I even turned back to the window.

I hadn't meant to scare her. I didn't like talking about my past. All those prying questions digging into a vast, darkness…a void._ I couldn't remember my parents –mother or father– except for a touch or a voice that my schizophrenic brain probably fabricated. No one claimed me in Tumulus. No one called me son, but it was physically, biologically, impossible for me not to have parents. My mother…Grimm saw my wings and coined my mother the peri, because when he saw my face, my humanoid face, he implied he knew my father. I looked nothing like the Auphe; my physique, my features…aside from the talons I could bare and the language I could speak I shared none of their attributes. Even my organs were in the placement of a peri, not an Auphe and not a human. But Grimm saw my talons and my face and knew my father, he saw my wings and didn't associate that with my father as well. He saw my mother there. Did he know my mother?_

Did he have my mother?

_My claws made a soft sound as they sliced into the frame of the window where the wood was rotting. What if he had her? My choice to show him my wings brought about his choice to focus his efforts on the peris. To breed the perfect enemy. To call forth more monsters like myself. My impulsive decision killed peris, tortured them, stripped them of their own freewill. He could have my mother…why did that thought shake me to my knees? She abandoned me to the Auphe, didn't she? That was what they told me. I was 'given' to them. Gifted. That translated to abandonment once I learned the word. So why would I feel remorse for a woman who bore me then tossed me into hell's gilded cage? And how could one whose voice sang me to sleep so sweetly, betray with such heartlessness?_

_There was wetness on my face. I brushed it away, confused. The tear ducts only excreted fluid to clear the eye and as a reaction to pain. I was in no physical pain. I felt guilt. Yes, that was guilt. It wasn't my decision that hurt Nova and her family, but it was impossible not to acknowledge the series of events that transpired after my reckless actions. All to create something new. Something like me._

_I needed to stop him. I needed to forget about the unchangeable past and forge ahead. Grimm's efforts needed to end and more than likely that would mean his end. Grimm and the Auphe, kill them all until all that was left was me, and then…who knew. Maybe I would end myself. The world would not suffer for it. Losing one more child of hell._


	11. Chapter 6 - Cal

**CHAPTER SIX**

**CAL**

Story time. Every elementary school, Hallmark greeting card, or holiday warm-and-fuzzy commercial depicted it in the same cavity-inducing way. A mother (or father) sitting on their kid's sweet bed in the shape of a racecar or decked out in princess pinks and diamonds. And the brat holding open a book and pointing with a smile missing teeth as the doting parent read to him the story of a little train that could or a frog gone to market. I might have had a few of those, back in the day. I know I remember curling up in Niko's lap as he read his own books aloud. That was only so I could fall asleep without thinking about the monsters under my bed. Yeah, 'cause I still thought that was where they came from. His voice would lull me to sleep, drooling on his pant leg, probably. I never paid attention to the words though. Whether he was reading a textbook or Keats poems I wouldn't know.

And once I was old enough to read for myself it wasn't the Hungry Caterpillar and Peter Rabbit. It was a general encyclopedia of 'How to Survive in this F-ed up World' volumes one through eight. Histories of the world and human literature were sprinkled among 'How to Kill a Vampire-unabridged' and 'Seven Ways to Disembowel a Boggle'. Obviously all that light reading did nothing for me, because I was living with a vampire and only knew one or two ways to kill a Boggle, wasn't sure if they even had bowels to 'disem'. What was my point? Oh, right.

_My brother is boring._

Not quite, inner bastard, but sometimes true. My brother liked story time and his version was not the Hallmark-adorable-still-frame version. His father had even commented on it before we found out he was a double-crossing, dick-head Rom. What had Kalakos said? Niko was very giving with his words? Or maybe it was free with his words? Either way, it was probably the most honest and truthful thing the bastard had said to us. I would always forever love the fact that he hit Niko over the back of the head too. We had to kill him and he ruined whatever smidge of a father figure Nik had in mind, but at least I got to see my big brother get a tasted of his own medicine with that little whap. I don't think I'd ever dare it on my own. Not without an escape plan.

"Are you listening?"

I glanced up from packing the back of the El Dorado with supplies we would need for our trip to the most under populated state in America: Wyoming. It would take us a couple days, if we switched off, less than two as long as Robin didn't make us pull over so he could sleep on some satin-sheeted pillow top. He'd been all right last time thought and that was during the tumultuous monogamy trial period. "No, I'm not."

Niko tilted in his head to one side to scold me, then thought better of it and closed the side door. Robin was doing nothing, per usual, in the passenger's seat –he apparently wasn't mad at me anymore. He had his feet propped up in the open window frame and was currently dicking around on his cell phone with some new game that had the most annoying soundtrack. I never pursued that means of entertainment. Applications and downloaded games onto my phone? That was just asking me to get frustrated and chuck that shit to the concrete.

"Please, listen so I don't have to repeat myself four times during this trip. It is a very long ride, Cal. I can even put it on tape for you so you can fall asleep to it like the old days."

I had to smile at that, amused that he could follow my disjointed train of thought without even trying. Nik's blond eyebrow lifted at my expression as he came around the back of the junker to the trunk; he was intuitive, not psychic, so he didn't really know why I was grinning and it usually wasn't from fluffy thoughts. "No, I'll listen. The Inkonya, Cargura, Xenophobia, and Mezzo forte clans all have missing peris. They live in the least wanted states of America. We go there, see if I can track Grimm or the Bae and we kill lots of things along the way."

"Close," Niko responded. He eyed the trunk, probably surveying my packing job. Currently, the actual overnight duffle bags (and Robin's matching suitcase and carry-all) were sitting on the car lot behind me. The false bottom that held my preferred traveling necessities was exposed. A case of pen dynamite from a previous adventure, several first aid kits, the cases and ammo for my back up weapons and various knifes and other bladed weaponry strapped along the sides for my brother. I wanted to pack the flamethrower, but considering the last time all our weapons were packed in a car a schizophrenic Rom exploded it, we weren't taking the chance of making an even larger firework display.

"Inquoia, Calgra, Xenothe, and Mezphane clans from Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Considering the radius of the area they have gone missing, Grimm is not attempting to keep his location secret. We can assume he's tempting you. He is aware that you work for a peri, after all." The inspection of my organizational skills went well, because Niko nodded and lowered the false bottom back into place. We weren't at our usual lot either. Promise's penthouse allowed for her pristine black Cadillac to park in their secure lot, but our clunker would not be tolerated. They did, however, valet it at another 'tourist-friendly' lot a few blocks away free of charge. Maybe my lingering essence kept the delinquents away, but we had yet to have it broken into –even for parts.

Still leaving the illegal firearms exposed to an open lot that many humans strolled on through and passed by was not a wise thing to do. I reached down and picked up Robin's suitcase, chucking it into the back. "Please, don't explode my luggage." I heard the puck whine from the front seat. In response, I threw the small bag in even harder. Mine and Niko's followed there after.

"But we already discussed that Grimm wouldn't be going through all this trouble just to piss me off. He, obviously, has a plan for the peris."

"Yes, but pissing people off is a shared pastime for you and Grimm," Robin called, then promptly let off a string of curses in another language before his tone of voice lifted to that false salesman perkiness. "Hi there, stranger. Haven't seen you since you were picking Evaline's eyes out of your blackened teeth."

What the hell? I slammed the trunk shut and understood his digging sarcasm when I saw who was prowling up to us. It was never fun meeting up with someone you imagined as a one-night-stand. "Genesee?"

"You never call, you never write, what's a girl to think?" She looked good. In jeans that formed to her hips and ass like paint. Her shirt was a little eighties in style as it slipped over one shoulder, but the indigo color set off her gray eyes and the fabric was far richer than any cut off jersey the girls wore decades ago. Her skin glowed like silk under the harsh lamplight above.

"Perhaps she should think that she is a vacuous _kariola_ and move on," Goodfellow provided. He had returned to his cell phone, but he was out of the car now. Leaned up against the door and alert; getting him off his ass was enough to have me realize just how much he didn't appreciate this woman's presence. Not that his early morning phone call hadn't already provided that information.

Genesee spared him a sharp glance as she tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear. "_As to diavolo."_

"You first."

"Genesee," I said again before the Wendigo and puck went into an all out cat-fight. "What did you need?"

She lifted her eyebrows, those gray eyes that looked just a shade lighter than mine, were following Nik as he paced around the other side of the car. He waited at the driver's side door, allowing me to finish this conversation, but subtly warning me to make it short and sweet. "No need at the moment. I just saw you in passing…are you leaving town?"

"For a few days." I left it at that, mostly because I could almost feel the tension wafting off of my brother and Robin. Last time, we hopped in the car and across the US, Delilah had invited herself along for the ride. No one was happy about this, save for me and my manly needs, but that only lasted until the part where she nearly got me killed by her avenging pack and then tried to shoot one of the few werewolves of the world that actually somewhat liked me. I wasn't planning a repeat of all that, especially with a woman I'd been with _once_.

"Mm." Genesee gave a shrug and flicked her nail against the collar of my jacket. "Plan C then, I guess. Perhaps I'll see you later." She turned to leave just like that, no complaint no pushing. I was surprised. She just waved a goodbye, patted Goodfellow on the cheek as she passed him, and went on her merry way. "Have fun on your trip."

I leered after her, mostly because she was putting on a show with the sway of her hips. "Do you not like her because she's still got it and you don't?"

"I still have 'it'," Robin defended. He got back into the car, grumpier than usual. "I may not use 'it' to 'its' full marveled extent on pitiful creatures like you anymore, but I certainly still have 'it'."

"Sure, mm-hmm," I slid into the back seat, adjusting the gun under my arm and settling in to be the first to sleep.

"Oh, trust me, when you wake up to find you're choking on your own mediocrity because she got bored waiting for you to rouse for another tumble you will not be so quick to fall for her web of sensual lies." He dropped his seat back a few inches, slamming me in the knees. I hissed in pain and kicked at the back with what little space he provided. "And by mediocrity, I'm referring to your penis."

"The hell do you think you're doing? Backseat gets to sleep first."

"Tough."

"You didn't have to ride with us, you know? You could have flown."

Goodfellow grinned, even with his eyes closed I could see mischief playing across his features. "You would have missed me too much. I could never force you to suffer that pain any longer."

"We still have a lot to discuss, Cal," Niko added. I groaned and dropped my head to the rest behind me. "I know, road trips are torture, but look on the bright side one way or another you'll probably get to kill some Bae."

For some reason sleeping on road trips had become a near impossibility. Usually, I could conk out anywhere, anytime. It was a practiced trait; one learned from years and years ducking the monsters out for my throat. Grab sleep when you could get it. Only I had plenty of time to get it and it alluded me. Last cross-country drive Suloyak –the anti-healing bastard– had been invading my sleep, this time (thanks to Robin) it was her.

She stood before me in a darkened room with no definition and she was beautiful. Her smile teased and her slender fingers drifted through my hair to scratch pleasurably at my scalp. Her lips danced over mine, tantalizing and tangible, full and sweet. She whispered she loved me. I told her the same. There was a bundle of cloth at our feet, a periwinkle blue and moving like a little mouse was poking around to get out. I crouched down to release the poor animal.

"We made that," Cassie said softly. Her hand coasted over my crown. Blood trailed down her legs in heavy rivulets. I stared up at her, watching the deep red strain blossom from the center of her chest. It cascaded down, dying her white dress red. "We suck as parents, don't we?"

The bundle burst into flames and I jerked back, falling on my ass in the darkness. Cassie fell into me. My cheeks were damp with tears and Cassie's body lied in my arms, her last breath escaping.

I bolted upright with a gasp, quickly surveying my surrounding to ground myself for what seemed like the fiftieth time. There was a hand to my shoulder. I glanced beside me to see Niko casting a baleful look in my direction from the open window. We were stopped at a gas station again, filling up the gas guzzler somewhere in rural America. The backseat was empty so I could only assume Goodfellow, who switched seats with me sometime in Pennsylvania, was inside searching for food he deemed worthy enough to eat.

"Hey. How long was that?"

"Twenty minutes," Niko replied. "A new record." It had been like this all trip. Every second I closed my eyes I would see her and the many ways she could die. I would see Dante, newborn, infant, twenty five and cursing me out for abandoning him. The worse were when I was doing the killing. My body not under my own control I would plant the bullet in Cassie's chest. I would snap Dante's neck and toss him like a discarded doll into the fiery pits of hell.

I ran my hands over my face and leaned into the headrest. "Where are we?"

"Ohio. Did you want anything inside?" I grunted an affirmative, but unlatched my seatbelt to go get it myself. I was done with sleep. Screw these crazy nightmares; I need some coffee. I grabbed a hotdog and some chips as well, purposefully ignoring Robin, who was chatting up the cute cashier next to the old man that waited on me. Once a puck always a puck. He'd never cheat on Ishiah, not even if the peri said it was okay, but flirting and stroking his ego was permitted in his book obviously.

Back in the car, Niko had settling into the passenger's seat. He knew I wanted to stay away from my nightmares for a while, what better way than the distraction of driving. Shoving the last bite of hot dog into my mouth, I plopped down behind the wheel and looked over at him. "Can we leave him? Please?"

Niko snorted and tugged his hood up over his eyes. "Only if you want to hear about it for the rest of your life." I decided that prolonged torture just wasn't worth the instant gratification of leaving Robin in the dust today.

Goodfellow kept it short, surprisingly, and slipped into the back seat with a cocky grin slapped on his face. "You done with your quickie in the bathroom?" His smile turned down just enough in annoyance that it put one on my face. Of course, it brought on the most inane soliloquy to come pouring from his mouth for the three hours I drove. Then the puck finally dozed off and left me in the peace and quite of a silent car at midnight.

It was like that for the next two days, switching between drivers; we even stopped at a motel one night because Niko thought a bed might help me catch some z's but nightmares didn't care how bundled up and snug you were. Eventually, Robin and Niko refused to leave me behind the wheel; I hadn't slept since the first day, not for more than ten minutes at a time, at least. It might have had something to do with me almost taking out a speed limit sign, then a guard rail. I lied like a sloth in the back, struggling between dozing and clawing at the seat mid-dream. I didn't gate home, which was a win; I'd done that when I was caught in nightmares with Suloyak. I lost my appetite, even for fast food milk shakes. It worried both of them. Robin even apologized; it was buried beneath another hour of drabble, but he apologized and tried to comfort me.

We pulled off-road almost as soon as we crossed into Wyoming. I was very doubtful that the El Dorado was going to survive the bang and crunch of the stones we were bottoming out on, but I also wouldn't be sad to see it go. We rolled up to a little village a few miles north of a town called Lusk. The settlement, from what I could see, wasn't much to look at. The buildings looked like they had been built by hand, or, at least I doubted they had a front loader or bulldozer to help with these shacks. I wondered how they survived a winter up here.

"Stay," Robin commanded and patted me on the head like a dog. He was leaned against the open door frame, a shit-eating grin plaster on his face. I shared it and I jabbed a throwing knife in his direction as he pulled back; surprised him enough that I sliced his finger with the edge. "Ow, no biting! The peris are apprehensive to have you around, so stay here."

I glared, but Niko was making no motion or sound to negate what the puck was saying. "I just drove how many miles to wait in the car?"

"This is the boring part, Cal. We're just getting information from them. Why don't you try and get some sleep while we talk?" I rolled my eyes, but crossed my arms over my chest and hunkered down in my seat. They moved off, sated that I would remain. There was no reason for me to fight it anyway. I didn't really care what the peris had to say and I certainly didn't feel like putting up with all those 'back evil hell-spawn' looks I would get traipsing through their little reservation.

From where we parked, I could only see darkened structures with flickering lights in the windows. No electricity. I knew peris liked to keep it down to the basics, but this clan was just plain missing out. The po-dunk townies south of here probably thought they were some mysterious cult. I watched Niko and Robin walk down the stone and pebble road into the huddle of huts, until my eyelids started to droop. I rested, half awake and just aware enough not to dream. It probably was the only way I hadn't gone crazy these past few days.

It wasn't a nightmare or an annoying puck that interrupted my cat-nap this time; it was a sharp tingling sensation that sliced down my spine. I cursed and traveled out of the car, there was no time for doors when a gate opened right next to me. I kept the car between us and bared my teeth at my visitor. "Grimm, you mother fucking bastard."

"Hello, brother. Did you miss me?"

"Like a catheter."

After that sweet little reunion we just stared for a moment. Part of me was waiting to wake up, convinced this wasn't really happening. Grimm stood casually a few feet away from the car on the passenger's side; I had gated outside on the driver's side near the back. Putting the hunk of metal between us and making it easier for me to spring open the trunk and shove a stick of pen dynamite up his ass. He looked no worse for the wear, unfortunately. Whatever bullet holes I had left behind were either covered by his black sweater and jacket or had healed up. He'd cut his hair though, no longer trying to mimic me since that boat had sailed. He still looked like my inverted doppelganger regardless.

His height and stature were about the same as mine. His hair was now within an inch of its life to his skull, but still stark white blond in opposition to my thick, black hair. His skin was a tanned wheat, mine moon pale. His eyes narrow and blood-red, mine wider, rounder, and that Leandros gray. Yin and Yang, except both of us were a little more than crazy and together we were far from balanced. Our features didn't really match or oppose like our coloring did. I considered myself more handsome, but now that he didn't have that stringy white hair in his face I supposed he wasn't hideous.

He smiled and those special order metal needles that covered his teeth glinted in the moonlight. Scratch that, hideous fit well enough. "You're a long way from home."

"Called out to clean up your mess," I offered. I was smiling as well. My heart was thrusting blood through my veins like firewater. I slipped another throwing knife between my fingers to join the one that I'd cut Robin with. Grimm has his own set of claws; a black glove with the stubby little talons attached like a poor man's Wolverine or Kruger. It was more fun when we leveled the playing field and with my gates now limitless again it was truly level.

"You tricked me, brother," Grimm hummed in a teasing tone. His deeper voice sounded like a tire crunching over glass in his playful mirth. He wasn't angry; he was excited. My fighting him, my besting him and forcing him into hiding, it enticed him. I'd proven myself a very worthy opponent and isn't that what every good little Auphe wanted? An enemy worth killing.

_Oh, yes, spill his blood and show him just how worthy._

For once, well maybe not once, but for the first time in a while, I agreed whole-heartedly with the devil on my shoulder. "I'm not your brother and I'm telling you right now this ends tonight. You and me, winner takes all."

Grimm chuckled and started pacing around to the front of the car. His nose was in the air as if tasting it. "You and me, hm? The human and goat won't be joining us?"

I was unsurprised that he knew Goodfellow and Niko were with me –their scents were all over the car, naturally. What was surprising was the use of 'human'. Grimm referred to the humans as cattle. Nothing but a source of food or mild entertainment; apparently, Niko had also proven himself and been promoted. "Nope, _mano y mano_."

"The translation of that would actually be 'hand and hand' and I certainly hope you aren't planning on murdering me through a rousing chorus of Kumbaya around the peris' campfire. _Mano a mano_ is hand to hand, meaning combative."

I ignored this rather good comeback and slipped my hand under my jacket to pull out the Desert Eagle and aimed it dead center between his eyes. "I plan on using any means necessary. How do you say bullet to brain in Spanish?"

"You aren't curious?" Grimm asked, still with that metal grin flashing in the distant lights of the peris' village. "What brought me here? Why the virtuous peris? It was a pity I didn't start with them. They're so much more…entertaining than the succubae. Perhaps not as fertile, but dragging them down, stripping them of their pride, their dignity, their chastity and honor." He scoffed at the last word and the only reason I didn't open fire was because I _was_ curious, sickened, but curious of how much he knew. "They are quite majestic writhing beneath me, but you already know that, don't you? Very well."

"Congrats. I believe you have leveled up from sick cultist breeder to full fledged serial rapist."

"Save the witty quips, Caliban, you lied to me," Grimm snapped. His eyes flashed dead on to mine and his upper lip pulled up in a snarl. "Claiming my efforts pointless, while you had already begun your own plans. Everything in motion and you pretended I was crazy. And working with _them_ of all demons."

"Sorry I for not keeping you updated." So he knew about Dante and 'them' when spoken with the loathing and spite Grimm just spat out, usually referred to the Auphe, which meant he knew they were alive. But why did he think Dante was the Auphe's idea or planned at all? I refused to fill in the blanks for him. Never reveal all your tricks in the game.

_Strike now, ask questions to his dying corpse._

"You can never create what I created, Grimm," I said, ignoring my inching trigger finger. "Not with the peris, not with anyone."

"I thought that too for a while," Grimm hummed; he even chuckled as he scraped his fake claws along the hood of the car. I lifted the Eagle back on target and took a sidestep to keep the distance between us. He was circling. Not that it mattered; one gate and we would be upon each other. "Tell me, Caliban. What was your end game? To create him in your likeness like a god? It's brilliant really. Unmistakable. Or was it her? That slender little body of hers, so taut with muscles and the sharp curve of her bones, so delicate it seems like you could break her with the slightest touch. It took a bit more than a slight touch, but those skinny little bones do break."

I could feel my eyes narrow. My jaw clenched. What game was he playing now? No blood had been shed yet; we usually didn't get this far into a conversation before a little pain was dished out. This was a new type of game he'd learned. A manipulative one. He though he could disorient me by playing with emotions he thought he could control. Implying things my nightmares were made of. Cassie in his hands. The images sent burning stones to my stomach, but I leaned into the seething rage for support. It would be stupid to let it get to me. It was impossible.

Grimm was always like this, partially the Auphe's fault, but he'd always been fucked up. Cassie would have sooner killed him than screw him. I was positive he'd never met her, proof being he was still here. He was attempting to twist a metaphoric dagger in my chest, either dredge up memories I had emotional attachment to or just test me to see if I would react. So I couldn't. If this was the game I needed to show my poker face. "Are we going to try and kill each other now or are you planning on boring me to death? My ears bleed enough from Goodfellow's constant chattering."

"Have I struck a nerve?" Grimm tugged at the collar of his jacket, flipping it up as if the cold was bothering him. I doubted it; even if he spent no time in Tumulus (something I never asked him) the cold wasn't that intense and there was no way Grimm would show me any weakness no matter how trivial. "Does it bother you, Caliban, knowing that I've taken what was once yours? Did she scream for you too? Those creamy breasts heaving until she had no more breath to give?"

I hated to admit it _was_ bothering me. I would be damned if I let him win this round, or any. He was trying to distract me with his ridiculous stories and attack the moment I cracked. The moment I went for blood. Grimm knew I was close.

"Did you take her until she bled? Her claws tearing into your flesh? Or was it…yes, it was, wasn't it?" His grin widened so I could almost see his normal white molars around the hypodermic needles. "You're just like them; the cattle you walk among. Weakened by frivolous things. Love and loyalty. I thought better of you, Caliban. You loved her, didn't you?"

"Oh stop, your jealousy just makes my ego all tingly," I teased. I gripped onto the cold and callous strings of that devil inside me, felt them wrap around like a cocoon. The muscles loosened along my back as I let Caliban out to play, just a little, just enough to make the words come out. I relished that smirk dropping to a frown around those metal teeth. "Her claws did dig into me, she did scream, but was she squeezing her legs around your waist to pull you in deeper? Was she screaming your name like you were king? Did she wrap those full lips around your dick and suck you dry?" It was crude, coarse, and a bit more than I ever wanted to share with Grimm, but he had to know there was no leverage here. His platform was crumbling. I needed to set it aflame. "You will never know the pleasures she could provide. You will never create a child like mine as perfect as he was. You can't. Because they're dead. You're chasing after ghosts, Grimm. Give it up."

We both heard the soft rustling of footfalls coming from the village. We both heard them quickly halt and become nothing but a whisper in the grass, splitting to circle us. Grimm's eyes flickered to their corners, but he didn't move save for a tilt of his head to his shoulder. "Ghosts," Grimm echoed and let off a little chuckle. "I suppose that's my cue. I really didn't want to interrupt the family outing. I just wanted to say hello."

I could smell Robin to our left. As much as he could walk on silent feet he couldn't mask his forest-y musk unless he used that special spray he had. And Niko, who I knew was on the right probably smelled just as obvious, though I couldn't really catch that scent as readily. Grimm knew my driving buddies were back though, and it seemed he wasn't sticking around for them to get into position.

The air split behind me in the same moment he stepped into a gate. I let him follow that gate, to lean in over my shoulder and whisper his parting words. "You're wrong about lot of things, Caliban."

I stepped forward and spun around, gun aimed and finger pulling the trigger. Grimm was gone before the bullet loosed, but I let it fly in frustration anyway. Robin had to dodge, but it was an easy pivot for him. He stared across the now empty space between us. "What was that?"

"Why didn't you call us?" Niko demanded, his stern tone overtaking Goodfellow's question. I sighed and scoured the area with both sight and sense to see if Grimm was within the vicinity. The second gate he took…I couldn't feel the exit.

"Obviously, we were just having a little chat. No need to get your panties in a twist," I grumbled, wishing it had been more of a bloodbath myself. I holstered my gun and walked up to the car, yanking open the driver's side door. "Give me the keys and tell me where we're going. I'll tell you all about his bullshit in the car."

Neither of them argued; curious as well, no doubt.


	12. Chapter 7 - Cal

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**CAL **

I could count the number of sexual partners I had on one hand; not something most guys would willingly admit, but it wasn't like women were lining up to sleep with the local half-Auphe. I was attractive enough. Promise told me I was handsome on more than one occasion, Robin had said the same even if he'd never hit on me like Niko (which would have been unwelcomed to begin with). I think that had more to do with my disposition than anything else though…that and Niko kinda resembled Ishiah, whom Goodfellow had been stalking for centuries.

I had confidence in my looks and physique, but my DNA would be the death of my sex life. Humans were a no-go; no matter how desensitized they might be to the evil inside of me. Dante was a mistake. A science-driven mistake I wanted once I had him, but a mistake nonetheless. I couldn't have that happen again and humans were probably the most fertile bi-pedal race –save for the succubae, apparently. So I had to be careful, selective.

A nymph that couldn't procreate the same way I did, a werewolf infertile from injury, a naturally barren peri/Auphe hybrid. Cassie would have stayed that way too, if the Vigil hadn't fiddled with her hormones and nurtured a little miracle fetus to be born. Grimm was doing a fine job of popping out little abominations; I did not want to add to the pot no matter how much he begged me. So my options were very limited. A little playtime with another _paien_ like Genesee was fine, but little Cal wasn't going to be fully satisfied unless I found another woman who was, one, fine with who I was, two, _aware_ of what I was, and three, unable to make any more of what I was.

Cassie didn't have the same limitation as me. Up until the Vigil probed her, she had been barren. She had nothing to fertilize and therefore no worries of getting pregnant. _And_ she was best friends with an endlessly horny puck. Even I had been surprised –and relieved– that she hadn't slept with Robin. But she wasn't a virgin when she came to me. From what was implied, the Auphe saw to that before she'd even seen Earth. I'd heard her and Robin's stories; they carried on when placed in the same room with or without alcohol and Castiella had no shame in revealing her own activities or Robin's for that matter. She was far more experienced than me and with three hundred times the years to experience. I'd taken it in stride when we were together. In fact, I'd appreciated it, because with her confidence I never fumbled. There was never really an awkward moment between us.

And then she died and I was left with thousands of questions unanswered. I didn't even know her favorite color…how was I to know if she hadn't slept with Grimm before I even knew she existed? She'd been in Tumulus when I was; she'd been hunting us when both Grimm and I were slaves to the Auphe. I never thought to ask if she had known about the half-breeds in Nevah's Landing. I figured she would have killed them if she knew, but she hadn't killed me. She had seen more than a monster in my eyes and set me free. What if she had done the same to Grimm? I'm sure he showed he was more intelligent that the drooling mutations in the cages beside him. What if he had manipulated her into thinking he was worthy of freedom and worthy of her.

I scoffed at my own thoughts. 'Worthy of her' what the hell was I going on about? I leaned back in my seat as we drove along the highway straight down toward New Mexico. Apparently, the little fraction of the Assembly that we were supposed to meet had moved off to a different location. There was a distress signal from the Inquoia clan, something about them getting free from Grimm or something. Which we all knew was bullshit. If they were alive, he _let_ them go. Probably to lure me into the next locale he desired.

"I fear steam will soon flow from your ears with the racket of rusty gears turning vigorously in your head and I doubt the smell will improve your current offensive aroma." Robin was driving. I had caught him glancing back at me through the rearview as if I wouldn't be there the second he looked away, which was usually a Niko habit, but after meeting with Grimm they were both worried I might try and get this done on my own.

"Speaking of which, I believe we are all due for a good shower and a moment of repose," he turned his head toward Niko with a sly grin. "There is a great Greek restaurant just at the edge of Colorado, only a mile or five off the highway. As well as the sweetest little bed and breakfast." Niko gave him a dubious look and Robin responded with a level glare. "I'm not bathing in another truck station, Niko."

With a half-hearted sigh, Niko waved Robin off to do whatever he pleased and the puck turned his eyes back on the road, continuing down the highway. "So as I was noting, you seem to be grinding down on your little white baby teeth, Cal. Anything you want to share?" I rolled my eyes to the roof of the car and pretended I heard nothing. The puck's eyes were on me through the mirror again. Considering how empty and flat this highway was he wasn't too concerned about staying in his lane; granted, he actually did a damned find job of it by feel alone. "Ignoring me will not be in your benefit."

"Usually works out fine for me," I countered. "I think I've shared enough for today."

I'd told them what Grimm had said, what he was implying. And I'd told them with a tone of absolute disbelief, which I had felt at the time. There was no way, _no way_, Cassie would have slept with someone like Grimm. I'd been so sure, but honestly, I knew so little about her. What if she went through a crazy streak where she slept with him just because she could? Or to…I don't know, teach him some manners?

_Right, teach him. He did say he had many teachers._

Fuck you, brain.

"I know what you're thinking," Goodfellow chimed in, adding to the irritating voices filling my head. His green eyes caught mine, when I finally looked into the mirror. "And you have proven a new level of stupidity is possible for all jealous men of the world by even thinking it."

I said nothing, surprised he had learned to read me well enough that he got the gist of my idiotic thoughts. Or, at least, I assumed he got it by the 'jealous men' quip. Niko didn't seem to be following for once, or perhaps he was just keeping out of it, but either way he was focusing his gaze out the side window to watch the flat lands roll beyond. I tried to do the same on the opposite side, but the puck would have none of that. I wondered what would happen if we wired his mouth shut?

"She would never sleep with the likes of him. No matter what tales he's spun."

"She lived a long life, Loman. Some of it without you." I cringed when the car jerked to one side, slamming my shoulder and almost my head into the door frame, then Goodfellow stopped in the middle of the freakin' road. It was well into the wee hours of morning, but that didn't stop the truckers on the move. "What the hell are you doing? We're in the middle of the road!"

"And you don't think I will be able to see headlights and remove us from danger within the six mile distance we have in view? It is flat land, Cal. A lightening storm can be seen from the next state over." Goodfellow shoved the car into park and turned around in his seat to admonish me some more. "I can't believe you would entertain the thought that she would debase herself enough to sleep with Grimm, you were bad enough—"

"Screw you!"

"Why would you even think that?" the second accusation came from my brother. Again with this cornering tactic, one would think he'd know better by now.

"Because," I snapped, but lost the rest of my argument. "Shit, he's older than me. He would have met her first. She could have set him free just like me in hopes that he would become something more."

"So you think she sleeps with any promising half-Auphe?" Robin retorted, as insulted as a critic being critiqued. He growled almost to himself and shoved open his car door. "I can't do this in a car that smells like dead fish and a slaughter house in the rain. Get out, right now. Out."

"Middle of the road," I reminded him. He paid the warning no heed and wrenched open my door as well. I let him pull me out and prop me up against the El Dorado, mostly because I was too tired to fight. My energy was nearing unconscious levels due to my lack of sleep. He left me like that too. He wasn't angry anymore, if he ever was, but frustration and remorse were clear on those usually sly features. He ran both hands through his curly brown hair and took a few steps away from me and the dinging car. The interior lights were on, Niko had slipped into the driver's seat and –with a little rev of the engine as a warning for me to move– my brother eased the clunker over the desert scrubs edging the side of the road

"Do you know what drove me mad about Cassie?" Robin questioned as he started to wander down the rumble strip, one fancy shoe in front of the other.

"The fact that she wouldn't bone you?"

"You know, if I weren't trying to convince you that she wasn't a harlot I would take this opportunity to educate you on all the things she _did_ do to me, for me, on me."

I felt a little bile creeping up the back of my throat; my ego was getting crushed like a cardboard box in a compactor. "One more word about that and I'm gone. See you at home." It didn't help that Cassie had told me nothing had happened between her and Robin. That she didn't even think of him in that regard…which I now realized was complete bullshit, because there was no way _not_ to think of a puck sexually. Personally, puck-sex made me want to both vomit and punch him in the face at the mere concept, but someone like Cassie, who had already shown a great desire for love and a little fun at all times, could have been tempted into some very naughty situations. I told Nik and Promise I didn't have sex with Genesee and I didn't, but all the other things I had with Genesee…Cas could have had them with Robin.

"I can smell the burning metal from here, Caliban. Stop it," Robin snapped. He tired to smack me on my cheek, but I wrenched away and glared at him.

"Then tell me the truth right now, because all the shit falling out of your mouth is just making everything churn in my stomach and I'm going to aim for your swanky shoes if it comes up."

"Castiella and I never had sex," he countered, then crossed his arms over his chest. "If you want details I can certainly give them. I have pleasured her, she has pleasured me –though I believe her motive behind that was to see one as well-endowed as myself. It happened early in the relationship, once. She had made love to someone else when I was present and I have done the same. She has used her body to tease me relentlessly—"

I wanted him to stop. Desperately wanted to shut that flapping mouth for once and for all. And that was how the devil in my brain convinced me that leveling the matte black Eagle with Goodfellow's nose was a good idea. The puck stopped talking, for a moment, though he didn't move from his lax position in front of me. "You asked for it."

"Right, and listening to that just makes me wonder about Grimm all the more."

He cursed at me in another language, meaning it by his tone, then knocked the gun aside and grabbed me up by my shirt front. "Castiella loved you, Cal. More than any other. She had experience, of course, she had experience, but the time she spent in your bed was the happiest I'd ever seen her and for the longest amount of time. She doesn't surrender her body lightly, Caliban and certainly not to a monster like Grimm. The fact that you would ever believe that of her makes me wish she'd never given you what she had." He shoved me back.

I stood there in the middle of the road; literally, the double lines were right under my boots. He was right. Castiella had already told me she had been prepared to kill me when I was trapped in Tumulus. She had her claws raised to rip me to shreds, I remembered that myself. She told me it was my eyes, whatever she saw there, whatever glimmer of something not completely gone to the darkness, that stopped her. She set me free from them, chucked me right into my brother's arms. And this was how I repaid the kindness. I accused her of sleeping with a creature she would have cast aside or killed the moment he touched her.

Robin was right. She would never sleep with Grimm. And he was right in thinking that if I was willing to wash her from my mind I didn't deserve to have those memories at all. And, lastly, I did smell pretty rank. "Can we go now?"

"Don't doubt her, Cal," Robin pushed. He calmed in my silence, catching hints of emotion as they fleeted across my face faster than I even felt them. "Everything she told you. Every word was honest and true. She never loved anyone the way she loved you."

"I don't want to talk about her anymore."

Goodfellow paused, but nodded at my request. Maybe it was because I wasn't denying her existence anymore. Now that I accepted the memories it was okay to evade them? Whatever sense that made, I'd go with it if it meant I didn't have to hear her name on repeat. The puck was heading back to the car and I was itching to get out of here. I just wanted to go see what these feathered idiots needed, fix it, kill Grimm and head back to the apartment to catch up on my shows.

I should have known better though. A puck didn't just _give up_ when he wanted to talk about something. To give him credit, Robin waiting until he was in a lighter mood, several hours later, when we stopped for food – never though he was 'human' enough to get cranky without a snack. The meal seemed to stave my pre-pubescent tantrums as well. Enough that when Robin said, "Have I ever told you how Cassie and I met?" I didn't immediately punch him in the mouth.

I glared at him from across the table, gripping a fork in warning. He had good reason to assess the weapon before continuing, considering I'd stabbed him with one on several other occasions. Didn't stop him though. Very little could stop the constant flow of verbiage pouring out of a puck's mouth. He sipped at his wine first, as if considering how serious I was on jabbing him in the eye, then he decided either I wasn't quite serious (which was a mistake on his part) or that the story was just too good to resist. "We were in this quaint little establishment, the 1050's version of a pub if you will, having a time determining who should be the one to take his leave. Ah, by we, I mean myself and a meager representation of my illustrious race. We'll call him Loki. As you know pucks instill a bit of discomfort when gathering."

Oh, we knew, and a hundred of them in one place sent all of the _paien_ of New York packing over the bridge. Some of them even went to Jersey for the night. I attempted to ignore Robin as he started off on how the owner was a friend of his and how he had rights to be there and Loki was just so pitiful for thinking he could encroach, blah, blah. He went on about how inferior Loki was comparatively long enough for me to pretty much finish my meal of some sort of Greek game stew. I wasn't a big fan of trying new things, but it was actually good.

Then Robin got into the parts where he and his new puck frien-emy went through perverted games to see who was the better horn-ball and who needed to leave the bar. If asked what those games may have been I would be hard pressed to recall, since I scrubbed them from my mind the moment the words fell on my ears. That was, inevitably, until he spoke her name. The chunk of rabbit meat in my mouth instantly turned bitter on my tongue and I renewed my evil-eye fixed upon Goodfellow.

"Oh, you'll enjoy this," he assured me. "I'll even keep the embellishments to a minimum, I promise."

I snorted in disbelief and my brother stepped in to save the puck from working a fork out of his leafy-green eye. "I thought we were done with this conversation topic several hours ago. Cal has made it clear—"

"If you claim him now a man you need to stop babying him," Robin countered. I watched the muscles along Niko's jaw clench. He glanced over at me ever so subtly then went back to picking through what was left of his dinner, which was pretty much my dinner's dinner. He'd eaten quite a bit, which surprised me. He was handling Grimm's surprise visit better than I thought he would. My aversion to present conversation topics, not so much with the well handling. Not that he had any obligation to stick up for me like a big brother in the face of a bully. Robin wasn't a bully and we'd already discussed how stupid I was for thinking I could just dust memories off my shoulder and be done with it.

"Cal said he didn't know much about Castiella. I'm trying to help him with that. Considering how deeply he fell for her in the little time they shared I think it better for him to hear more about the woman he loved and not encouraged him to bury her with the visceral memories of the Auphe scouring his soul with their literal and metaphoric claws."

It was my turn to clench my jaw, but he had a point. A good one, judging by the guilt stabbing me in the ribs. I'd tucked her away in the vault of my mind. The vault labeled 'things not to remember'. My two years with the Auphe in Tumulus were in there and I'd lumped her existence in my life with them. I was an ass. I no longer tried to defend that decision.

My silence and Niko's retreat to his salad urged the puck to continue. "As I was saying. We noticed her when she entered. Obviously, more beautiful than any of the ladies in the drinking establishment."

Considering the time, Cassie was probably as vision of beauty. She was certainly adorable with her round doll-like face and perfect full lips, but some humans gave her a run for her money in this day and age. Back then, hell she was probably seen as Aphrodite herself until about the turn of this century. She had certainly grabbed the attention of two pucks, who were known for their sex appeal and prowess (among other traits like lying and stealing). Not only for her comely appearance, but because the humans skittered from her like little mice in the presence of a feral cat, as Robin described. He said that even some _paien_ hunkered down in unrealized fear. It was that Auphe presence we had. It sent the wise or sensitive a-running. But Loki and Robin had never heard of the Harbinger, not more than rumor or story. So all they saw was a peri in an ill-reputed bar. She became their new challenge. First to bed the peri.

"So far I'm not liking this," I groused. I took up my drink to take a desperate gulp. Ouzo, I think Robin called it; whatever it was it tasted like licorice rubbing alcohol, but went down smooth. The puck had bought me top shelf so I suppose it could have been far worse. He had angled it as a night cap and a means to help me get some sleep, which Niko bought to the extent that he doubted it would help, but vainly hoped it would. I was hoping it would wash away the image of Cassie –my Cassie– ducking her head between the winning puck's legs. Robin already said she'd pleasured him once; I was going to kill the bastard if he chose that night as a good story to share.

"Castiella wanted none of it," Goodfellow went on. He smiled at his own memories, swirling the wine about in his glass; not concerned for my seething discomfort. "Even with two pucks at her side she shunned us. At first, I believe, in confusion and then in irritation when we wouldn't relent." He paused to chuckle at his own retelling, shaking his head like it was a tale about a poorly executed wedding toast. "Loki was such a sorry excuse of a puck when it fell onto creativity. He never understood subtly. If he had even the slightest notion of a body and how to read it's language he probably wouldn't have woke the next morning on the bar floor. She punched him right in the face. So hard he went sailing about ten feet. Oh, it was a delight to see…until she turned to me."

Robin chuckled again, but this time his eyes weren't wistfully staring off, they were set on mine which were fixed intently on him. "See, I told you, you would enjoy this."

"Only if this ends with your castration."

He shook his mop of chestnut curls. "How could it end as such? You've seen me in all my glory, Caliban."

"Don't remind me. That memory _should_ be stashed away with the horrors of Tumulus; it was just as scarring."

"She didn't cut anything off or of me, except perhaps a little of my pride. I hadn't been expecting a peri to fight so violently against me. They weren't fond of pucks, but that hasn't stopped many of them from having a quiet affair with one. Cassie attacked with the bitter cruelty of one nearing the end of her battle. I could tell. I was seeing stars from the flat of my back, but I could still tell she was frightened to be alone and desperate to keep hidden at the same time."

"Hell, no. She kicked your ass, I want that in detail."

Robin smirked, but he refused to indulge me. He finished off his wine, but covered it with his hand when the brownie waitress attempted to scamper over and refill it. She bowed her frizzy head and darted off, disappearing into the kitchen. The Greek joint was a _paien_ establishment; a little strange considering how far off the map it was, but I supposed there were _paien_ in the middle of this ghost town too. It meant we didn't have to soften our voices for once, so that was nice. And the service was creepy attentive.

"Needless to say neither of us won that night. Loki and I went our separate ways. Loki wouldn't see Cassie for another four hundred years, while I would see her the next day. Granted, there was a bit of stalking involved, but she had piqued my interest. I'd seen her red glare and dodged her black claws; I knew what she was, but…to me she was just something new." Goodfellow's voice had changed. It was the same fondness of before, but there was no smile in his distant look. "And eventually she became something I couldn't part with."

"Stop," I told him, both to keep him from sinking further into misery and to stop him from dragging me down with him.

His green eyes flickered up to me, for a moment looking like a man lost in a black hole and then the smile peeked through. "I wish you could ask her about it all, Cal, but you can't." He took in a long breath and leaned back in his chair. After a moment of silence he flagged down our bill and finished off my drink for me. "So if you want to ask, ask me. I would love to share my memories with you."

I gave him a nod, but knew hell would be a frozen fortress before I succumbed to those desires. I wanted to know more when she was alive. Now I just wanted to lay her to rest. Not to bury it, but to move on. That was the healthy thing to do, right?

Robin had actually been right about the alcohol too, or maybe it was the hotel bed. Regardless, I passed out for more than a few minutes that night. A couple of hours even and when I woke up at the ass-crack of dawn, I could feel it. A little hive of gates cracking and sealing; the failed attempts of a toddler trying to open a door. A nest of baby Bae, learning how to walk. How quickly they grew up.

I got up, dressed, and kicked at Niko's shin as he sat meditating in the middle of the floor. "Let's go. My Bae-sense is tingling and I'm more than ready to plug a few bitches in the head."


	13. Golden Boy - 4

**GOLDEN BOY**

_I had no brothers or sisters, but I wasn't the only infant to grow under Tumulus skies. There were several Auphe offspring. Somehow in the very depths of my conscious I could remember attempting to play with them. It was rough and violent and fun, but I was their fragile ticket into the human world and the Auphe quickly ushered me away, hiding me from both worlds as best they could. I lived alone; never the same guardian coming to watch, scold, beat, or manipulate me. Or at least I never noticed if they were the same. There were no names save for mine. No one called me son nor brother. The first being to ever call me son was an old, dark-skinned human outside of a run-down gas station. When I refuted the title he laughed and laughed as if it were the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Then he said I was right, I had 'far too much vanilla' in me to be his son. I didn't understand, but I liked his laugh._

_It was strange how, despite my lack of family and understanding therein, I could still feel something stirring in my chest as I watched Nova bury her own. She had brought five others with her. The first took her life minutes after they brought her inside. The other peri helping to nursing the injured had fled the moment I came downstairs on the first day, leaving Nova with three vulnerable bodies to tend to. Now there was only one on the living room couch, still as death save for her breath._

_I watched Nova from the kitchen window, digging shallow graves for her late relatives. I doubted both of them died from their injuries, but I decided not to ask if they took their lives like the first. Nova was a healer. A modest one with power growing as steadily as her downy wings, but she had been able to stabilize the peris under her care. I'd seen them conscious, heard them speak, and then one day there was one less voice. This morning it was only Nova's voice. Nova's tears._

_I didn't appreciate the emotion 'guilt' and I didn't want to be led to believe their trepidation of me was what pressed them to choose to end their lives. I offered to help Nova bury her kin, but she asked me to stay inside to keep an eye on the remaining survivor. I was partially surprised she would allow the vulnerable peri splayed out on the couch to remain in my presence without her. Nova had great caution when dealing with me, but she resided in this house for weeks. Diligent with her kin, vigilant in watching me the moment I appeared._

_I didn't bother to avert my gaze when she turned back to the house and started up the hill. Her dusky skin shined with a patina of sweat, making her look bathed in gold. The smudges of dirt and littering of dead grass in her hair took nothing away from her regal beauty. She paused halfway up, when she caught me staring. A small twist of muscles curled up one side of her mouth, then she shook her head and continued to the farm house. Once I couldn't see her, I returned to chopping up the carrots and celery for the soup. And Nova came through the kitchen to kick off her stolen work boots and look over my shoulder at what I was doing._

"Dinner?" She asked. It jarred my muddled thought to ones more solid and tangible. I grunted an affirmative. She took a slice of carrot, trusting enough to do so while I was still cutting the other end. I watched her take a bite, tilting her head in a studying manner. She was always trying to read me, it seemed. "Every meal you've made, of which I appreciate, has been vegetarian. Is that for me as a peri or just because you aren't fond of leaving here to go to town?"

I frowned. "I don't eat meat." I didn't wish to explain more than that. I didn't want her to know what a desperate, starving half Auphe would succumb to eating. _The taste and feel of raw meat tearing under my teeth, tendon snapping from the bone…while the live body struggled under me. Ever since the Auphe allowed me to explore the world just a bit, I'd snuck vegetables into my meals, just so I could eat less of the bleeding muscle and fat they slapped down before me. Now that I was free, I didn't have to touch the flesh of a breathing creature again if I didn't choose to._

_Nova refrained from pressing for an explanation. She just murmured, "such a peculiar boy," before moving off into the living area where the remaining peri lied. I imagined it was strange to hear. An Auphe opposed to eating the meat another blood-bearing creature? Their cries of rage would echo with their laughter at their weak child. I wasn't weak for it. I would prove that to them; their blood, I was more than willing to spill._

_After dumping the cut vegetables into the pan to simmer with the gravy, which was actually chicken broth based, I set the knife aside and walked to the threshold between the rooms to watch her again. Nova was knelt at the peri's side, running her hands over the air just above the small female's broken arm and shattered leg. I'd seen a human woman gesturing in the same manner with incenses in her hand, claiming she was casting out evil spirit from her store. That human wasn't a healer, but she had to have sensed something since she started her purging the moment I walked into the door. The dance of Nova's hands over the mending flesh and bone of her charge was her means of channeling her powers. I didn't know how she did it and I was curious, but I feared questioning her would only give her more caution toward me._

_And the peri she aided, the little fragile creature stilled on a dusty, sagging couch, she was different… _

_It was the wingless peri. Considering I'd not seen her coherent I didn't know if she was truly wingless, or just not conscious enough to reveal them. Nova often tucked hers away from tangible vision, if only because it was more convenient inside the house. This peri looked so dissimilar from Nova's family; a complete foil to her long tanned body, dark hair, and dark eyes. Yet, Nova cared for her just as diligently, perhaps more, than her own cousins and elders. I'd heard the others plead for Nova to kill her while she was weak. Nova obviously refused. I crept closer, careful to keep myself in Nova's peripheral vision so not to cause alarm._

_Nova caught my inquisitive gaze as I wasn't attempting to hide it. She continued running her hands over the air above the peri's arm as she monitored me. She still gauged her reactions, or rather my reactions; I noticed how closely she watched me. She still felt fear of me and she had every reason to feel those emotions even if they held no bearing on me. I wouldn't harm her. That was not an action I was willing to make anymore. I wasn't entirely sure why the concept of causing her pain forced dread into my chest like a crushing weight. Along the same vein, I didn't understand why my knees weakened at the scent of them. The pair combined was more intoxicating than the stew bubbling in the kitchen. It was an unknown sensation my brain had yet to define. _

"She was Grimm's favorite," Nova said softly, either to explain the extensive injuries this peri had escaped under or to fill the silence between us. _The first day I'd inspected my temporary visitors, I had felt a twinge of empathy for this peri's condition. Much worse than the others, she hadn't woken but for more than a murmured word or frantic, short-lived gesture even a week later. Though her injuries looked to be healing nicely; Nova's talents –no matter how humble they were– improved the natural healing abilities of the peris._

"Favorite?" _I knew the definition of the word, but I couldn't apply it to any emotional capability at Grimm's disposal._

"When she arrived it was like the rest of us didn't exist. It was a bittersweet situation. Her presence spared us, but the sacrifice wasn't her choice. Grimm focused on her and she suffered for it. When Grimm started letting his children play with us…some of the others resented her for the tortures and the deaths that proceeded after."

"You don't." I lifted my eyes to study her expression instead of the peri lying prone on the couch. _The longer Nova remained out of Grimm's reach the more richly her skin shown, as if he had been sucking the warmth from her soul. More than likely, it was just her body altering chemicals now that her environment wasn't as stressful. It resembled deep sandstone now. Less olive and more mocha. Her lips had healed from their cracks from dehydration, a subtle pink. Her eyes showed more brilliantly as well, sharpened now that she could clear her head. _

She shook her head, resting her fingers over the wrist of the peri in full contact. A wrist even more slender than Nova's own. "It wasn't her fault. And she fought harder than any of us. Against Grimm, against his children. She even attempted to drive them away from us, but in her condition she was no match."

"What's wrong with her?" _She had arrived suffering from malnutrition, several broken bones and lacerations; most of which Nova had alleviated with her limited healing skills. Those were all visual though, as a healer Nova could see deeper into the body and maybe understand why this creature was unable to defend herself. Perhaps it had something to do with the metal joint drilled into her spine. That piece of machinery was not something Grimm had done to her. It was far too technologically advanced for one breeding out of a cave in the Mid-West. I'd not studied it closely, but I could see the intricacies were on par with a facility devoted to science and engineering, not of the mind of a single monster bent on world domination through violence and a mutated army. _

_Regardless, to what had been done to the peri before, Nova spoke as if she expected this peri to be more powerful than them, to be able to defend herself, but she was hindered. Maybe by her injuries, maybe by the mechanism, but without hindrance, why did Nova believe this peri superior to her own elders?_

"I assume whomever held her before Grimm was drugging her heavily into sedation. She has been suffering from withdraw for nearly two months before you found us. Her body is fighting the dependence, but with the injuries sustained with Grimm…it was just too much for her."

"Why would she need to be subdued?" And why was Nova treating this peri differently?

Nova sighed. Maybe my questions were distracting from her concentration on healing. She usually didn't mind answering my inquiries. "She's different."

"She smells different," I commented. "And you show her favor."

Nova grimaced. It was a quick facial twitch, but I saw it. She wiped her hands on her pants and gazed up at me. "All peris have a certain scent. Most describe them as mimicking herbal or floral scents."

I pressed my lips together; she hadn't answered both questions and it wasn't for lack of understanding. I walked around the couch to the head, inhaling deeply without even realizing it. This peri smelled of stripped bark and wildflowers,_ but it was immersed in a thick tang, like the shadows in a darkened alley on a cool night. Like a blade unsheathed for a kill. Yet, the mixture left a warmth in my stomach, spreading through my ribcage. I touched my palm to her damp forehead. Her light brown eyebrows tugged inward under my skin, mouth parting just slightly. She was still a little feverish. A creature suffering, but fighting; not like the others Grimm took._

"Why do you favor her?" I asked again.

"I'm surprised you can't sense it." I twitched when she stood from her stooped position. Nova didn't look at me and after a pause she walked into the kitchen to check the soup. I could hear it boiling from here, but hadn't the concern to tend to it. I didn't know what she meant with that comment. Was there something about this peri that I _should_ be able to sense? I crouched down near her prone shoulder.

I studied her more closely as Nova took care of the dinner I'd started._ Brushing my fingers to the joint of shoulder and arm, I saw her pale coloring wasn't much lighter than mine and even had the same peach hue. Her frail frame was so much smaller than even Nova's and, while tall, Nova had been much thinner and even shorter than most of her elders in the clan. I leaned my chin to my hands as I gazed over the curve of her shoulder to her round face. She smelled different, but I couldn't sense much more than that…other than the baffling urge to curl up against her_.

"She's the Harbinger," Nova offered. She stood over me, apparently done in the kitchen. I didn't know what that meant either and my sidelong look confirmed as much. "You don't know?"

"I know very little about this world, Nova," I replied. I straightened my legs to stand beside her; side by side before the fallen peri. "I learn what I can when I can, but the _paien_ world is still very hidden from the humans and most of my knowledge and learning has come from the humans' technologies."

Nova gazed at me for a long moment. _Her dark eyes seemed to weigh the consequence of her revealing something to me. If it were regarding the peris I would imagine she would not want to reveal something pertinent to their culture, especially to a half Auphe like myself. _"She's the first," Nova said after a time. "She's the first half Auphe created. Thousands of years old. She was created during the wars between the Auphe and peris. The Auphes great weapon to kill the peris, of which she is half as well. She's feared by my kind…that's why the mothers pushed her before themselves."

"Half…like me." _The warmth that had flowed through me was suddenly cold and coiled around my muscles like hundreds of angry python. I could see it now. In her bowed lips, the small upturn in her nose, the pale cream tone of her skin. _I stepped back from the couch. Nova looked over her shoulder at me in concern. "Grimm knew?"

"She revealed herself to him in our defense. That's why I can't harbor the hateful feelings the mothers do. It was so long ago and she hasn't hunted us for centuries," Nova huffed out a sigh, but I wasn't paying much attention to her. "She had been so quiet for ages that she became a myth; for me she was a child's scary story. Her own clan claimed they'd killed her."

_My head felt as if someone had spun me about at maximum velocity, then tossed me through a gate to nowhere. _Lost…confused_. I had not learned any of this. I had not learned about the Harbinger, but this knowledge was connected to my existence. Whether that connection would ever be fully realized in my head remained to be seen, but my brain was attempting to process. _An answer lay before me, but I couldn't grasp the question_. Her scent. Her scent was so peculiar. No, not peculiar, _familiar_._ "Tell me more."

"About?"

"Tell me more about the Harbinger."

Nova shook her head. "There isn't much I can tell you. As I said, the tales are folklore. She came from the Auphe and slaughtered my people, then after a few hundred years, just disappeared. You hear about sightings or tall tales of someone that claims to have bested her, but other than that she was a ghost." Nova bent down to reset the blanket over the Harbinger's body. The expression on her face was somber. Her full upper lip lifted just slightly from the lower. "I wouldn't have believed it to be true if I hadn't seen her fight him. It was frightening really, but Grimm…" Her dark eyebrows pulled in as she looked away from me. Suddenly it seemed as if she would be ill. She shook her head slowly. "He got excited. It was horrible."

"He was looking for her," I said slowly. _It was Grimm's choices that hurt her and her choice to defend the peris with her Auphe powers, but I still felt guilt. If I hadn't shown Grimm my wings he would never have known my heritage he would never have focused on the peris and he would never have found her._

"To create the next best weapon. A new level of his Second Coming, maybe?" Nova brushed her hand over the female's forehead. It was impossible for me to think of her as…no, I. _Why was I having so much trouble with this inevitable concept?_ It was right before me. _The only logical explanation._ "He succeeded too."

My heart stopped at her words; _not literally stopped as the condition was just a force of sudden shock that caused the organ to skip a beat. This wasn't a physical force, yet it felt as tangible against my chest._ "What do you mean?"

"She's pregnant," Nova replied softly. Her hand set down gently on the peri's –half-peri's– lower abdomen. With her powers she could, no doubt, feel the cells forming in the uterus. "So I need to keep her away from Grimm. Her history with the peris be damned. He can't have this child and I will do everything in my power to make sure of that."

I closed my eyes and tried to still my scattered thoughts. This was my fault. Even if I hadn't even known about her, who she was, who she was to me…_I set Grimm on her trail and I let him take her. I let this happen._ "Is there anything you can do as a healer? To prevent this from happening?" The growl in my tone, even unintentional, caused Nova to pull away from the prone female. She stood in front of me, arms crossed around her stomach as if I would force her hand upon something.

"What are you asking? Are you asking me to force her to miscarry?" The distraught rise in Nova's voice startled me, as did her words. I asked no such thing, but she would not let me clarify. "Even if I was strong enough a healer to do so that is _not _what the gift of healing is for!"

"Nova—"

"That is a horrible sin, to take the life of her child without permission!" Her temper flared in her eyes; the dark iris that seemed so soulful flashed a bright lantern orange. Her wings lurched on her back where they hadn't been visible a moment before. "How could you even…it might not be like Grimm. In fact, you are proof of that! You were raised by the Auphe and look at you now! You are proof that a half Auphe doesn't need blood on his hands to survive."

I wished to contradict her. _Any half Auphe whether under the tutelage of our ancestors or fleeing them could not survive without blood on his hands, but I assumed she was implying that I was a saner specimen than Grimm and this child could become the same. I did not argue that. I knew the only reason I survived the Auphe with my sanity intact was because of the peri that lied before us on the couch._ I waited a moment to make sure she was done in her rant, before I clarified my intention. "I meant to ask if you had the means to shield the child's presence. So someone, namely Grimm, wouldn't notice. I don't want Grimm finding her anymore than you do, but I might be more vested in that ambition than you imagine."

Nova shrank into herself, embarrassed by her assumption. I didn't mind much, considering most would ask that of her. _Those_ _that feared the Auphe, me, this creature that Grimm sullied._ "No, I…can't really do anything like that. I can't even offer her a safe place among my clan. They would murder her, given the chance. And in her current condition they would probably manage it." She paused and brushed her hair back from her face. "I'm sorry. I just thought…"

"The same as your race would have thought. As they would have taught you," I offered her a small smile. "You're different. She's different too." That being said I focused my attention back on the unconscious peri, crouching down and brushing my fingers along a set of scars on her jaw. They were made by the Auphe, I could tell by the ridge of the cut. Her scent teased my nose, so close to her. Her skin was feverish under my fingertips. "It's my fault. Grimm would have never sought her out if I had never shown myself to him."

Nova shook her head, still not following my confession. I unfurled my wings and heard Nova gasp, but I couldn't remove my gaze from the pale peri restless in her sleep before me. _That lulling voice that sang me to sleep, that warm embrace and those salty tears of anguish; where they hers?_ "Nova, is this my mother?"

There, that was the question. And the answer rhetorical, as the proof was clear.

"I never understood why people even bother expelling breath for rhetorical questions."

I straightened, claws immediately splicing the flesh of my fingertips as my gaze fixed upon him. I bared my white teeth and he grinned with his dozens of needles flashing. I didn't ask how he found us. I didn't ask what he wanted. It didn't matter. All that mattered was my determination, my choice: _he wasn't touching my mother again_.


	14. Chapter 8 - Cal

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**CAL**

We pulled up to a farm in New Mexico a day later, or what used to be a farm. The land was all yellowed thrush and dehydrated dirt. I didn't know what kind of farm it had been once upon a time. Cattle? Wheat? Corn, what the hell did they grow out here in the desert anyway? I curbed the question before I voiced it aloud. Niko would give me a historical run down of New Mexico and the lucrative profession once practiced therein the moment I asked, no matter how idle the question might have been.

It was flat, sprawling, and boring. The only hill in sight had obviously been where the residence's house had once stood. Now it was nothing but charred remains and a reservoir of solid concrete formally the foundation. I stared down the hole into the basement, toeing pieces of glass and wood over the edge as Niko chatted with the peris behind me. I was allowed near the Assembly apparently. Maybe because Ishiah was here with them or maybe because they weren't as frightened of me being hardened badasses.

They were pretty impressive, I had to say. Not every one of them was broad and well-muscled like Ishiah and the majority of the Cheris clan, but all of them seemed to know their niche in combative life. Niko explained that the Assembly was a selected council from various different clans, who aspired to protect and help their people thrive. Whatever, they found the bad guys screwing up the peris' lives and killed them; that was what I took away from that. Apparently this was just the State's Assembly too, there were others in different countries kinda like the werewolf mafias. Everyone seemed to have some means of governing their kin, save the Auphe. Free-for-all murder was their forte.

"How many survivors?" Niko asked Ishiah. The Assembly had set up camp on this farm, spanning an acre of it with how many there were. Portable tents and even a few mobile homes littered the otherwise desolate land, though all of them seemed to want a good distance between their bed and this scorched house. Grimm seemed to have stirred them up quite a bit and his scent lingered. Ishiah was standing with us at the mouth of the basement, reading Niko in and exchanging subtle affections with Goodfellow.

They had greeted each other with a kiss, which I thought was kinda great only because I could see several uncomfortable sneers from those that were looking on when we arrived. Ish and Robin were a screwed up, yet somehow functional, match and I appreciated any and all efforts to stick it to uptight tradition. The Assembly, regardless to being all peris, was a little more varying than the other clans I'd met. Some of the feathered marines didn't even seem to care that I was there. Some of them clenched their sphincters when Ishiah started speaking to Niko as if he were an equal. And some, like the two swarthy-skinned peris just a few steps behind Ishiah seemed to regard my boss with a level of respect even though he was what they called clanless.

"There were five," Ishiah explained. "Unfortunately, there were fifteen taken. The Inquoia and Xenothe clans are neighbors to each other, just a few miles apart. Physically, they resemble Native American humans so they often play the part."

"Reservations and casinos then?" I asked. A solid wing slammed me in the back of my head and I had to jut my arms out to keep from falling face first into the sunken in foundation. Niko grabbed the back of my jacket as an added precaution.

"Prejudices aside, the Xenothe clan did live on a reservation and were rather devout to the old traditions," Ishiah groused, giving me a scathing glare for my remark. I decided to blame it on the voices in my head; sometimes they just got out. "They were…rattled by Grimm's children visiting, as was the Inquoia, but at least the Inquoia are a bit worldlier. The females from the Xenothe didn't survive, either from taking their own lives or due to the tortures of Grimm. Those that have survived are Inquoia, but aren't of sound mind; they can't even recount the events."

"They're here?" Niko inquired. They were most definitely here, the dead ones at least. Grimm's scent wasn't just sprinkled over this house. Most of the smells swirling around here were gasoline and burnt wood, but I could still get a taste of that bastard. I glanced behind me at the largest tent in the camp. It looked like one of those wedding banquet type tents. I'd seen when we were coming in that it was currently being used as a morgue. However the captive peris got here, they weren't dropped off in good condition. From the upturned earth at the bottom of the hill, they were excavated. Some were probably pulled from the ashes as well. Regardless, Grimm's stink was definitely on them; it was like he wanted me to sniff it out.

"I'm going to suggest you let me be liaison, if you have any questions for the survivors that were taken to the local clan. If they knew Cal was here I don't think they would take well to it," Ishiah said. He had the decency to cast an apologetic look at me as if I cared what these yahoos thought of me. "I've already asked them as much as I could without fruition. Only two of the mothers of the Inquoia clan are coherent enough to speak."

"What have they said?" The question hung on my lips too since Ishiah gave a dramatic pause, but I let Niko handle this. I was just the bloodhound on this mission; track and tree the prick.

"Nothing that makes sense. One mother described the Bae as three times their size and with mouths that encompass half their faces, from your descriptions that is hardly accurate. She was even less helpful when describing Grimm and claims that they were stolen away by another male half-Auphe beast, who left them for dead and spirited away her daughter and a few others."

"Another half-Auphe," I commented. As chilling as the thought might be, I couldn't find it in myself to fear the rumor of a crazy woman. "We're popping up all over the place, aren't we?"

"Like dandelions in the springtime," Robin added with a nice dollop of sarcasm. Fitting that he compared us to weeds though.

"The other said that the injured were dragged here by a monster. He sunk his claws into their ankles and brought them up the hill, while the others scattered. The rest mutter random syllables in trepidation. There is no solid evidence of what happened, but we came here to see what we might find." Ishiah motioned to the burned building in front of us. "We found this; three bodies decidedly not peri all but ashes and bones with in and three peri bodies buried recently outside."

Robin harrumphed as he gazed back at the tent where the dead lay. "I somehow doubt Grimm was partial to burial rites."

That was true; Grimm would sooner eat the meat off the peris' bones before he would waste time digging a hole in the ground to dump them in. So if not Grimm, then who? "Wait, are we seriously entertaining the thought that another half-Auphe is out there?" I cut in. "'Cause even I wouldn't waste my time on that shit."

"Cal," Niko sighed.

"What? I don't owe them anything. They'll end up part of the ground eventually anyway. They just might feed a few raccoons before hand."

"As devastatingly uncouth as the boy is, he's right," Robin defended and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back on his heels. "A half-Auphe, even the most compassionate of one, wouldn't spend the time to make graves for these peris. We have to assume this is something else. Actually, I'm begging to assume this is something else, because, praise be to Zeus and Hera, I cannot tend to another Auphe hybrid." He was referring to Cassie with that most compassionate half-Auphe line and I was proud of him for realizing she would pass them by all the same as a casualty of war. Hell, Robin probably wouldn't put the effort in. None of us would, lest it was a loved one.

"I assume it was Nova," one of the formally silent peris piped up. Now that I had a voice to add to a physical description and given the fact that he hadn't attacked me himself for my earlier comments, I decided to take note of him. He looked in his early thirties, but that meant zilch when it came to peris. His skin was scared a lighter color around his neck and chin that looked to have been a gruesome hack or burn, while the rest of him was a dusky light brown. Ishiah wasn't lying when he said these clans looked like Native Americans. Their features even matched with square jaws and proud noses, sloping dark eyes and thick black hair. The one who hadn't spoke even had those wizened frown lines around his mouth that made it look like he would spout off inspirational words about finding one's animal spirit any second. These two – we had probably already been told, though I wasn't paying attention – had to be Assembly members from one of the effected clans.

"Nova," Niko repeated to urge more of an explanation.

Tanto nodded and stepped forward as if that gave him the floor. "Nova is a young peri from our clan. Head-strong and brazen, but in many ways naïve and curious. She was taken with her mother and cousins, but she is the last left unaccounted for. A…saner assumption of the events might be that the mothers and daughters escaped here and Nova took her fallen kin into the house to be tended to. She is a brave fledgling. She would have the heart to survive this Grimm and the compassion to show her clansmen a proper burial."

"So where is she now?" I asked. That story seemed as far-fetched as the boogeyman dragging them to their deaths in a deserted hutch on a swamp. The peri slid his eyes to the collapsed house and frowned. I didn't press any further; at least the guy was realistic. Nova and her brave soul were probably buried under all that rubble…unless she was the one that tossed on the gasoline.

"That is our task, not yours," he finally replied. I shrugged to acknowledge that that was fine by me. Our task had been made clear to us upon meeting the Assembly and their priority was the same as mine, currently: find Grimm and kill him. I was right on board with that. Of course, they also wanted me to track down the Bae hives in search of their clansmen, but they emphasized that Niko and I hadn't been hired to charge in and scoop the peris out. They wanted me to locate, not evacuate. Apparently, I wasn't a good enough half-Auphe to be trusted in a cavern full of hysterical winged females.

The two unfamiliar peris retreated after they said their piece. Receding into the ensemble behind us. Ishiah decided to join them without a word, and, after a moment's glance toward us, Robin followed his lover. I figured the puck would be better suited in slipping through the Assembly to find out all the information they _weren't_ telling us, so I didn't question him leaving me and Niko at the edge of the collapsed basement. Of which me and Niko hopped down into once we were alone. We searched the remains for clues, but came up with nothing, except to find further proof that the farm house didn't suffer from faulty wiring or a stove left on. We found a half melted gas container and little bits of melted red plastic here and there. The fire had been set on purpose and my guess was that whoever survived had done so to cover their tracks on top of rightfully incinerating the few Bae stuck inside. I saw the charred pieces the Assembly pulled out as we walked up to the house; by the fangs and claws they were most definitely Bae.

The back of the house was still slightly erect. Showing the blackened framing of what was once stairs leading to a second floor that was now a giant skylight. Several bits of wall and furniture littered the only floor left, toppled over or burnt to a crisp. Still nothing on the clues side of things though. I gave up after a while and strolled over to a couch that had been ejected from the house when the stove went up. I flopped down and watched my brother continue to pick through. I wrinkled my nose when my sudden weight on the furniture kicked up the scent of a peri. No surprise there, if they entered the house one of them probably rested here. I didn't like it. The scent caused my mind to play tricks on me. Like when I smell teriyaki in the kitchen and my mouth starts watering for steak seasoned in the sauce only to come out and find Niko sautéing tofu or vegetables. I smelled a peri, but my brain made that peri smell like Cassie.

_Yet your mouth waters all the same._

Hell, yeah it does. I didn't care what part of me was in control we both desired her. Auphe and human, alike. I had a feeling even if I lost all my humanity for good I would still ache for her. Maybe that had something to do with her Claiming me as her mate previously. I wondered if Caliban would have bowed to Castiella? Or did he just desire her for the same purpose Grimm took the succubae? To create a new strength, a new weapon.

_Every king needs a queen. She would have followed me to the ends of the earth. She would have stood by me as I took the world as mine. Her love was a weakness, but it could be such a strength. If only…_

The wistful thought made me smile. Even the devil on my shoulder missed her. And he was right to an extent. She had proven that she could lose to the Auphe if pushed far enough. And if we were both pushed; well, goodbye world as we knew it. Not that it mattered anyway. I pushed off the couch and walked several yards from the house and the camp. Closing my eyes, I let my body search for nightmares instead of faded dreams. Come out, come out, wherever you are, little Bae. Uncle Cal wants to play.

"Cal?" Niko questioned. I wasn't startled by him suddenly being at my side; he always did that.

"Nothing," I admitted as well as confirmed. I knew he wouldn't find anything in the house and I couldn't sense anything close by. "Any ideas?"

"We may have to drive around and see if we can sniff them out. There are some caves, Ishiah, mentioned just north of here. We can start there."

I let off a sigh as Niko headed back toward the car. I'd been hoping for a better plan than cruise around until a way point popped up, but what else could we do? We had to at least pretend we were looking for the lost peris and the Bae, or else these feathered-bastards weren't going to pay up. And if I wasn't going to get some bloodshed I better have been getting some green.

Less than three days later, filled with squeaky hotel 'beds' and dank barren caves all over the southern mid-west, I was faced with a conundrum. Who had taken over Niko's brain and should I kill them?

There were a very few times I distrusted my brother's judgment. The main distrust was his unwavering loyalty to the monstrosity that was his little brother, but that wasn't the issue here. The issue was his new naïve trust in the Vigil. We hadn't trusted them when we thought they were just meek humans on watch to make sure some _paien_ didn't make the world go boom. Now that we knew their ploy, what they were capable of, one would assume that garnered less trust, but one word from them through Promise and we were back on the road, trucking northeast toward home.

I wasn't sad to say goodbye to the shifty-eyed Assembly or our pointless task of tracking a peri that was more than likely deader than fried chicken. I was inwardly relieved to escape the constant disapproving looks and idle hands itching to unsheathe weapons upon me, especially because the word the Vigil gave was 'Grimm'. My problem, if I had one at all, was that we were giving merit to the Vigil's word. If Grimm was back in the NYC, he was there for a reason. I would have assumed the reason would be me, but maybe that was Robin's narcissism rubbing off. I was smack dab in the middle of flat lands and tornado alley, though, following a trail Grimm left for me, ergo why would he even be in New York? Did he want to take the city while the king was away or was it the Vigil leading us home?

Niko seemed convinced of the second, but his conviction was more that the Vigil were calling mayday and asking for us to save them from the red-eyed monster that was my second cousin sixteen times removed. Cold trails and breeding caves void of life (though, not short on dead bodies), apparently meant to Niko that Grimm was toying with me to keep me occupied and his real target was my territory not my life. I begged to disagree, minus the begging part.

The caves were blood covered slaughter houses, not torture chambers. Grimm or the Bae or both did away with every peri we came across. Considering how many it took to create one Harbinger for the Auphe, most of those peris were probably killed because they were useless; couldn't produce. If Grimm had been leaving me messages it would have been coated in a different paint. It would have shown a tableau of slow, painful, relished deaths. It would have shown me how much fun it was to cut down the weak. It didn't. Grimm was just doing some spring cleaning a season early.

Explaining that to Niko would probably have him lecture again. He wasn't too comfortable when I attempted to explain the rules of the game either. The kills we found in the underground nurseries were necessity. Erasing a failure so no one would notice. Dusting off the ceiling fan in case your guests looked up. He'd given up on the peris and quickly, which only meant one thing…he found something better. This wasn't a message to me. This wasn't a purposeful cold trail. If he hadn't met us up in Wyoming, I doubt he would have even realized I'd been gone from New York.

No, if he was there. If he was in my city, he wasn't there for me. And he wasn't there for Promise, though I knew that was also in the back of Niko's head. Grimm had already allowed that condition to the game. If he touched my family I was out and for some reason he paid heed to that. He was having too much fun yanking around on my provincial chain, thinking that one day he would draw me in close enough that I would bring him his slippers like a good dog.

_Bring me in close enough and I'll bite right through your spine. Crack open your head and watch that little brain unravel._

That was for a later date. A last roll of the dice somewhere down the road. For now, I drilled intense rays of disturbed disbelief into the side of my brother's head. "Stop staring at me like I will sprout a second head."

"Just wondering when those bastards implanted a brain-altering-pod-person microchip in your head," I countered. "Was it when I was stuck in their little prison cell strapped to my bed and surrounded by an electrical field that would make me jolt like a squirrel on a bug zapper anytime I tried to gate?" A tiny little smirk appeared on Niko's face, not that I could get offended. I painted a pretty hilarious image there. "Seriously though, what is with the sudden reliance on the Vigil?"

"Short answer?" Niko asked, but didn't wait for me to respond. "Better friend than foe."

And there it was, the Niko logic. He was stupid for not wording it like that during my intervention, but I got it now. The Vigil, as an organization, have proven themselves to be cunning, resourceful, determined sons a bitches, among other adjectives. They had the government behind them and human law at their side. The _paien_ liked to believe they were above both, but for some reason most tried to appear to abide by human standards.

The Vigil was the biggest government conspiracy, considering how well they were hiding the _paien_ and hiding from the _paien_. From militant to pharmaceutical, their reach was probably on par with my black market cupcake dealer and our former second-string healer who relocated to the land of the rising sun. Niko knew that, like the Auphe, if the Vigil wanted me dead it would have been done by now; attempted, at least. Our little scheme of blackmailing them into submission would only last as long as it took for more _paien_ to figure them out on their own. And the more buildings exploding in NYC the more the supernatural community will take notice of the slumbering giant.

That was where Niko's theory came in. Help the Vigil out a couple of times and maybe they would see us as a potential ally, instead of the little brother time bomb and his keeper. Niko was making us valuable with as little effort as possible. Plus, let's face it, Mickey the rat could have rung us to say Grimm was at the local KFC having a bucket of deep-fried, minimum-wage, employee legs and thighs and we would probably still hop in the El Dorado and drive through the night.

"Just don't make this a habit," I grumbled, relenting for now. "Goodfellow exaggerates most of the time, but those scrubs really did chaff. I don't want to be donning a straitjacket style for the spring, yeah?"

We traveled in silence for about a half hour, since we were puck-less that wasn't so odd. Robin decided to stay with Ishiah until we 'came back'. I doubted either of us expected we would go back to that pointless job, but whether the Assembly thought we would or not, they sent us off with tidings of Godspeed and good hunting. They wanted Grimm six feet under too. They also hadn't paid us anymore than reimbursements for gas and lodging so far, which all and all was pretty considerate of them.

"Hey, Nik, pull off here," I asked. My mouth was watering again, but this time it was for food. Particularly mashed potatoes and a biscuit.

Niko glanced over at me, but obliged my request and smoothly slid into the exit lane. "Another nest?"

"What, no, I'm hungry and there's a KFC right off this exit." He gave me a puzzled frown, since I usually favored the simultaneous dine and refuel of gas station meals when on the road. "Don't ask," I warned and Niko shut his mouth as he took a left at the end of the ramp.

"So what's their end game?"

Niko parked the junker in a spot close enough to the exit that we could peel out without the hindrance of other cars. I didn't think we would find much trouble in a fast food chain, but some habits were hard to break. He glanced over at me again in question. Usually I didn't have to spell it out for him, usually I didn't have to say a word; maybe my lack of sleep was affecting his telekinetic connection to my brain. "The Vigil. What are they getting out of helping us?"

"They are human, Cal. I assume it is a form of atonement for what they did." What they did meaning murdering my lover and screwing around with her inner workings without permission. And judging by the bitterness in his tone, 'atonement' was another way of saying he thought they were trying to appease me so I didn't go for their throats. "I don't trust them. Just so we are clear on that. I will never trust them, but we can use them and they can believe they are using us."

I grunted and got out of the car. A bucket of original recipe was calling my name. I was just craving chicken though. There may have been a day that I had tasted human meat, but I decided long ago never to remember such a day and never to repeat it. "Seems a little flimsy."

"You think they're up to something?"

"Aren't they always?" I snorted. "Or maybe they just want Grimm taken down as much as the rest of us, but don't want to do it themselves."

Niko hummed in consideration as he fished for the cell phone I could hear buzzing in his jeans. I let him veer off to hold a private conversation when I heard, "Hey, Promise. We'll be home soon." I knew what he wanted anyway. There were a few times that Niko would toss his healthy eating habits out the window and that was when it was a car window on a long trip. It was impossible to whip up one of his nasty morning shakes without a blender and hotels usually didn't have those standard.

Lucky for him, they had grilled chicken on the menu and steamed broccoli. He rejoined me while I waited for our order to be ready. "All quiet?"

"In a manner," Niko hedged. I grabbed the bags after handing Niko the drinks and we were back on the road with me behind the wheel, a fried leg in my mouth within a minute. It was a little difficult for Niko to cut grilled chicken while driving and for some reason he refused to use his hands. Cutting his chicken also allowed him time to explain what he had meant by 'in a manner'. "Promise has confirmed that Grimm_ was_ in New York, but hasn't been spotted for almost a week."

"Too busy torching that farm house, huh?"

"Seems strange for the Vigil to call us to the city a week after the fact, unless they have information that implies he will return, which Promise couldn't confirm. They have, however, requested an audience with us. Apparently, they want to read us in on a project to see if we would be interested in aiding them."

"A project," I repeated, highly doubting they wanted a hand in making a sytrofoam replica of the solar system. "They want our help in experimenting on other _paien_?"

Niko scoffed. It was a soft sound that a barely heard over the groan of the El Dorado's engine. "More than likely they want us to help clean up a mess from one of their experiments." Well, that made a lot more sense. And we certainly overused their resources cleaning up our messes, so I couldn't blame them from trying to get us to scratch their backs. "In any case, I think we should hear them out. If only to laugh in their faces."

I smirked and reached for another crispy chicken leg. "We back on the road after the meet and greet?"

"We'll see what Ishiah thinks after. I told Promise we would meet with two Vigil members only and it would have to be at Sam's Diner tomorrow afternoon." I continued smirking. Niko hated Sam's Diner. It was in a sketchy part of human town, reeked of burnt grease and onions, but had the best cheeseburgers on the island. It also held some nostalgic memories for me. It was where Cassie first kissed me…and propositioned me for more which I stupidly refused.

Night seemed the best time to meet with these pricks since Nik and I could melt into the shadows so easily once we needed to get away, but maybe that was Niko's peace offering. The Vigil knew we wouldn't pull out our weapons on them by the light of day unless we had damned good reason too. Not that I even needed a weapon anymore. They pulled a gun on me or Niko and they would be vacationing in Tumulus. "Then are we driving all the way through to New York today?"

"I would prefer it. I never thought I could miss a bed."

"Bed warmer, you mean," I teased. He smacked me on the arm, but couldn't contain his little smirk.


	15. Chapter 9 - Cal

**CHAPTER NINE**

**CAL**

He wasn't lying. So far Grimm had yet to outright lie to me, so I could only assume I didn't believe him when he said he took Castiella because I didn't want to…and because it was impossible since she was dead. But, like Grimm said, I was wrong about a lot of things.

When I felt the gate, Niko and I were collecting our bags from the curb after dropping our keys off with the valet booth. Central Park was sprawled out a block away, hidden mostly by the high rises apartment complex, but I still felt it. I dropped my bags behind the valet booth and kicked into a full sprint through the building. I knew Niko would be right behind me, leaving the duffle bags, which mostly only had our clothes while the weapons remained in the trunk of the car. I slipped through the other residents to get to the back exit that needed a special key to get into, but not get out of.

Nik was on my heels as I darted across the walkway leading into the park and into the new inches of snow on the once grassy knolls. I already had my weapon drawn, racing deeper into the thicker groves of bare trees. There weren't many people out save for those heading for the ice rink or strolling around in the winter wonderland for a romantic day, despite the light gray of the mid-afternoon sky. My sprinting body would be noticed, but hopefully not the firearm.

Another gate opened, but quickly fizzled out, I kept running in that direction; I knew a misfire when I felt one. It was Grimm, I could feel him the closer I got, but he was fighting something; someone that was able to yank him back before he fled. A female…I could hear her screams clearly even with the snow dampening the sound.

Cresting a hill overlooking a tiny clearing among twisted roots and still-green shrubs, I raised the Desert Eagle and discharged without hesitation. Damn, the bastard's quick reflexes for avoiding a bullet straight through the brain. It was more than a graze though and he stumbled back from the creature he loomed over. I saw the wings and the blood, and the five Bae viciously holding her down so Grimm could fuck her against her will. I quickly avoided that image and focused on letting another bullet loose, muffled by the silencer screwed into the muzzle.

Grimm gated behind me and tackled me to the snow. I growled and whipped the gun across his jaw causing him to grunt, then roar in rage. He was screaming at me as he sunk his man-made claws into my shoulder, but I couldn't hear the words. I buried the gun into his shoulder in the same spot and pulled the trigger; that one went through and knocked him back. I gated on top of him, punching him twice in the face for the virtue of that peri. I felt the needles encasing his upper teeth slice up my knuckle, but I didn't care if he tasted my blood. I was already seeing red. This sick fuck needed to die. Tonight.

I slammed the gun into his chest, muzzle first. Blood spilled out when it drove several inches into his flesh and he let off another feral scream. His claws scoured my face. I shot the gun until the clip was empty. Unfortunately, the last few thunked into the ground uselessly. He gated, stumbled against a near by tree and hissed at me. "You can't keep her from me, Caliban."

I lifted the Eagle, half the muzzle was seared off from his desperate gate. The air rippled and glowed behind him before splitting into a gaping maw of black. I reached to close it a moment too soon, he knew I would; another gate wrapped around him and he disappeared from view. Oh hell, no. I gathered my legs under me and started after him. The first gate would have been going the same place; I just needed to reopen it—

"Cal!" At my brother's cry I skidded to a stop in the snow, one knee dropping down. His voice cracked, something I hadn't heard before. I swung around, pulling my back-up gun from my ankle to take down whatever Bae Niko was having trouble with. Only there were no Bae, no living Bae at least. Niko was knelt in the slush with the peri in his lap, all around him were the scattered limbs of the little half-succubae unfortunate enough to try and best my brother. His hand was pressed against the peri's face, the other was wrapped possessively over her chest. His coat was wrapped around her, but I could still see she was paler than the snow, her lips almost purple in the cold, but even in the pallid hues of nightmares she was beautiful.

In that moment, I knew Grimm hadn't lied to me. What the hell was going on?

I understood where that serene, calm expression on the faces of serial killers and terrorist came from that night. I could feel it inside myself. A deadly calm. The rage had built up to the point that I couldn't even feel it anymore. I no longer shook with the need to gate off and wring Grimm's neck. I no longer felt my heart thud in my chest or the blood pulse in my ears. I just sat quietly observing the shivering form curled up on my bed. I wasn't sure which was more impacting seeing her prone on under the sheets alive and breathing or seeing that bastard on top of her…taking her.

I felt a twinge in my legs and glanced down to see my fingers digging in, unconsciously. Alright, well that answered that question. Maybe I was just used to Cassie showing up after I thought her dead, or maybe it was just that the fury in me for what he did to her outweighed any happiness I might have felt in seeing her. If I could even feel happiness. She was alive, but that meant she left me again. That meant that she disappeared instead of perished for avenging our son's death.

"Shit." The curse was barely a breath, but it swept over me in a manner that I had to lean against my knees to keep from throwing things or shooting things. I hadn't thought about them for eight months. Eight goddamned months. I had erased them from my lips and eventually my mind and now she was back, dredging up all those memories of holding her in my arms with a smile on my face. Or lifting up my son and hearing him laugh his little baby giggle. He was gone. Nothing could bring Dante back. I'd seen his neck snap in the jowls of a flea-ridden werewolf soon dead thereafter. But Cassie…

Catcher had been the one to see that death. And so had I through the wonders of some idiot bystander's cell phone video. She had been shot. It was clear even from the video's distance. Shot in the heart. Or maybe it was just above. It had been a sniper, so it wouldn't be entirely impossible for the bullet to be well placed enough to appear to be in the heart while just a hair's breath away from avoiding it. What it came down to was that Castiella was alive, so had she abandoned me again or had she been detained?

I'd never seen her this vulnerable. She fought against the Bae and Grimm as best she could judging by the bite marks, bruises and scratches littered her body, but eight months ago they wouldn't have had a prayer in the world surviving a serious attack from Cassie. Her struggle wasn't half-hearted, I knew that much. I saw the state of her body when Niko lifted her and carried her out of the park. She didn't stir, the entire way back to the apartment. She lied in his arms like a rag doll. I hadn't touched her. Not sure why. Maybe I was scared to find out she wasn't actually there.

"Cal." My brother's voice lifted my eyes from staring at the blanket covered form. I hadn't heard him come into the room, no footsteps, no fabric shuffling, but I was too numb to even be jolted by his sudden appearance. "Why are you all the way over there?"

I was across the room from her, situated so I could watch her breathing, but not see her face. Wasn't sure about that either. Everything was a bit scattered in my head. I couldn't focus because everything led back to that image of five pale monsters pinning her torn body to the snow while Grimm forced himself into her. Her screams had been sounding across the park for how long before Nik and I heard them? Grimm had been raping her for how long? For how many days, how many months? "I can't deal with this, Nik."

My brother glanced between me and the small figure in my bed, but ultimately I won out. I always won out when it came to Nik. He deposited the medical supplies he'd brought in on my dresser. I didn't bother getting up when he came over to me and he didn't bother crouching down to coddle me. "What can't you deal with? Grimm? We decided even before this that he would be killed, that hasn't changed. Or are you talking about Cassie?"

That actually got me to look up at him. "I think that's the first time you called her Cassie." It was usually Castiella. Actually it took quite a while for him to be okay with her calling him Nik. Niko made a face; it was subtle and just a slight wrinkle in his nose combined with a twitch to his mouth.

"It isn't the first time, but I suppose being banned from mentioning her name at all made me miss it." He did crouch down then, one hand covering my knee. "Cal, I can't imagine what is going through your head right now, but the fact that you stayed here assures me that you know her need for you outweighs your need to kill Grimm. So why are you balking?"

"She left me again," I muttered. Niko would figure it out anyway. Most of the time I didn't need to say anything at all, this time that was all I had to say.

"I don't think she had a choice, Cal." He stood up. Apparently that was all the comfort I got; I didn't need it anyway. I needed explanations, I needed Grimm's blood on my hands, and I needed Cassie to open her eyes and tell me what I saw was a figment of my imagination.

Niko picked up the medical supplies again, resetting them around Cassie on the bed. I watched as he pulled my desk chair, which was usually used as a rack for my holster and whichever gun I'd been carrying that day, up to the edge of the mattress. He folded back a portion of the blanket tucked around Cassie's shoulders and lifted one of her pale arms into his lap. "If you'd actually come over to check on her you might have noticed some things. Such as the flexible module implanted in her neck that is very comparable to those that were implanted when she was taken by the Vigil two years ago. Though their technology seems to have improved a great deal."

"What?" I stood up now and my brother kept going as my brain slowly drew the same conclusions he had hours ago. The last time she had technology strapped to her nape she had torn them out. It had cut into her spine and she'd been immobile for several days. They were to stop our gating. A trick the humans had picked up and quickly used to contain us like a choker collar on a stray minding its own business.

"There's something else," Niko said slowly. He paused in disinfecting the scrapes and fang rents on her arm to tilt her toward him a little more. He slid his arm under head to cradle it and brushed her long, braided hair back from her nape. Getting a better view of her neck and putting on his study-and-learn face. "I noticed it in the car." Something made a clink sound as he fiddled with the clamp on her neck and he came back with a little vial between his thumb and forefinger.

He showed it to me as I stood a few feet away. It was and empty clear cylinder; it looked like a mini test tube. I took the tube when he offered it and watched him as he leaned over Cassie again. "It obviously held some sort of liquid. It looks like it was connected to a valve. Perhaps some sort of timed released medication built in?"

"What?" I repeated again.

"It's deeply imbedded in the module, I can't see if there is an injection site," Niko muttered to himself. It was like I wasn't there anymore. Like he was inspecting a cadaver for a morgue. I placed the test tube on my dresser, leaning against the wood as I suddenly felt a little more than nauseous. "Still I imagine it held a sedative, slowly administering it over days or weeks until it needed to be refilled. There would be no other way for her to be controlled. It would also explain why her muscles are so deteriorated from disuse." He gently rolled her back into place on her side and returned to the grime and blood on her arm. "Her cold sweats, paralysis, and shivers are definitely from the Bae's venom, but her condition wasn't proper even before Grimm got to her. Her pulse is racing and her pupils are dilated, combined with the other symptoms and she could also be suffering from drug withdrawal."

"Like benzodiazepine?" Big brother gave me a look of surprise that I actually retained that sort of information. "The Vigil was giving her that in the containment room, enough to drug an elephant."

"Good, which means?" Niko prompted.

I gritted my teeth. Apparently he hadn't been just talking to himself. He had already figured all this out and was trying to turn it into one of his little lessons. I hated when he made me come to the conclusion on my own. It was easier when he just told me; my fury didn't build so devastatingly when it was spoken with a quick shock of explanation. "That means the Vigil set it up. The sniper didn't kill her. They wounded her enough to collect her and gave me fucking dog ashes to solidify their scam. _That _is why they've been so accommodating. They didn't want me finding out what they did! She was there all this time!" My heart thumped again when my rage found a new target, then all but stopped when something dawned on me. "Shit, Nik…the explosion at that Vigil facility two months ago…" Niko frowned and he leaned back on the chair. He hadn't thought of that. "Grimm took her. Nik, he had her for almost two months!"

"We don't know that for sure, Cal."

"I know that for sure. You saw it, Niko! You saw it just like I did! That bastard was fucking my girlfriend against her will for two god damn months!"

"Calm down," Niko told me levelly. Usually that would set me off screaming, but it was my brother and Cassie let off a little moan at my shout, her rest interrupted. "Some of these wounds are healed, Cal, look." He pulled back the sheets completely and I just stared down at her, my blood freezing in my veins. Niko rambled on again, pointing at a loose bandage around her thigh, tracing thin, healed lines that used to be deep rents from Grimm's fake claws on her arm and the residue of medical tape. "It looks like she was aided by a healer; she wouldn't have healed from so much this quickly. I doubt the Vigil would have caused any harm to their specimen, especially harm that required first aid and a healer, which means Grimm might have had her, lost her, then obtained her again."

If I were in a better mood, if it was anyone else lying before us, I probably would have quipped about my brother being the next lead in CSI, but it wasn't someone else. It was Cassie. She looked so much smaller than I remembered. Her wrists and ankles so thin a stiff wind could break them. Bones shown through her skin around her sternum, her ribs, and even her hips and I hated that I could see so much of it…Grimm nearly tore off all her clothes.

Without a word, I walked over to my closet. I was actually using it as a closet, instead of a place to pile dirty clothes and weapons, now that we were living with Promise. Things were even on hangers and in drawers. I yanked one of my shirts off its hanger and tried not to think about the park. It was better to think about what Niko was saying. His hypothesized medical ramblings did calm me down a little and he was right.

Grimm wouldn't bother dressing her wounds unless they were life threatening. The only option was that some of the other victims he had piled up helped her, but succubae didn't give a shit about anyone but themselves and other peris would know what Castiella was. They would shun her and kick her down to Grimm's feet to save themselves. Better the evil Harbinger than their own feathered asses. Unless she got out. I wouldn't put it passed her. Even with the de-gating modules driving into her spine, if anyone could trump Grimm it would be her.

"How long ago do you think that drug valve thing emptied?" I called from the closet. Finding a clean pair of boxers in my drawer was a little more difficult since I hadn't done laundry in a while. I couldn't leave Cassie like that, though. She was already shivering and frayed rags couldn't help.

"Hard to tell. I doubt it could have been more than a week's worth of dosage." He lowered his voice the moment I came back out of the closet, already at work on the bite marks littering her arm and shoulder; most of the bites were on the muscular parts of her limbs, which was good. I didn't know what would happen to her vitals if one of those hybrids sunk their venom into an artery. "That means little though. We don't know the type of sedative, how it would affect her, or how reliant she was on it. Withdraw can take months to recover from. I'd imagine less time for a half Auphe, but I haven't been the one experimenting on her, Cal. I just don't know."

I contemplated this for a moment. "Well, even if it isn't withdrawal symptoms the Bae venom is coursing through her right now, shouldn't we use the saline to flush it out?" My leg was numb for six hours from that Bae venom. Cassie had them all over; they were trying to keep her down, keep her still.

Niko made a sound of agreement and went to get the bag we had leftover. I was left staring down at my emaciated lover again. "Another half-Auphe beast," I muttered, almost to myself. Niko watched me inquisitively when he came back into the room. "That's what those crazy peris were saying, right? That another half-Auphe dragged them out of Grimm's pit? Maybe they were talking about Cassie. Maybe she got them out, but kept running…and not fast enough."

"Makes sense, if she was in the condition to move at the time."

I started lifting Cassie up, trying not to jostle her around too much so I could get the clean clothes on her. But the moment my fingers brushed over that crazy cold hunk of metal along her spine and nape, I stiffen again. I couldn't take my eyes off her face. That round face, with its surly smile missing from those full lips. Those eyes usually alight with mischief and compassion closed in restless unconsciousness. Her lips were still a pallid blue from the snow. Her cheek was cold against mine.

"Perhaps a bath to clean her up before fresh dressings? I'll help you hook up the fluids afterward." That being said, Niko was out the door. He was leaving me with her; giving me a suggestion of what to do and leaving me to it. Maybe there was something in my eyes, belying my great attempts at trying not to look like I was about to break down or break something. He was right though, again. She had been driven into snow by that prick and New York snow was not clean. Not to mention I couldn't tell what was a blood smudge from the Bae or a cut of her own.

I scooped her up into my arms and jerked my shoulder to force her head against my chest, instead of lolling lifelessly around my arm. She was light. A lot lighter than before. She'd lost too much weight, too much muscle. Her autumn-hued, dark blond hair probably weighed more than she did. It was long again, excessively long, and in a thick braid. With the Vigil it had probably been well kept even if her physique had not, but after two months of wrestling with the bastard at the top of my hit list it was a little matted and had gathered more than snow. I'd cut it once I got her in the bath; she never liked it this long.

My bathroom had a tub/shower combo. So I was able to lie her down and start the water on a medium temperature. I propped her head up with a folded towel, not caring it if dropped into the water. Promise had like fifty of the fluffy things in various colors. Bedding sets too. I think she had an obsession the white sales.

I didn't plug the tub. There was no point when the water quickly turned to a murky red and brown the moment it touched her skin. Instead I pulled down the shower head and let it dangle as I stripped her of what little clothing she had left. It was more me ripping them off, since the job had already been eighty percent done before we got to her. She didn't stir, not even when I turned on the shower head and started a primary rinse. Passed out, or drained, or just Bae bitten out of her gourd…she was so utterly vulnerable right now. She wasn't responding to anything. If I were a worse monster I could…

I never would. The thought actually sickened me. Hell, knowing what Grimm did with those succubae sickened me and I didn't even _like_ succubae. Besides, a combined effort was always more rewarding; having her love and trust also helped quite a bit for the passion. "I'm not sure if I should be talking to you right now," I muttered aloud. The silence was eerie despite the rush of the water. I felt horribly creepy washing her unconscious body all psycho-mute, especially after what she had just been through. I took up a wash cloth when using my bare hands sent a nauseous chill through me. "I'm really curious to know what happened, Cas…I mean, not with Grimm, I could do without those details as I'm sure you could, but what about the Vigil? Are they the reason you're so damned skinny, because when you wake up I'm getting you a cheese steak…I'll even tell them to put green peppers in for you."

I sighed and reached for the soap. It was a standard brand that probably would sting a little in the cuts, but I knew Cassie could take it. Actually, I hoped it would wake her. I lathered up the cloth and slid it over her legs and up her thighs, washing away blood and grimy slush, trying not to think about what I was doing and how closely it might have resembled what had been done to her.

Keep talking, Cal. She had a hard day, she's just relaxing and you're just being a better boyfriend than possible for you. Bathing her like a princess. Oddly enough, the devil on my shoulder was quiet as a mouse. I would have expected him to dredge up some horrible images of what I could do to her, but there was nothing.

"I met Niko's dad a few months back." I moved over her hips and across her stomach. I knew better than to use soap on the sensitive regions between…I would let her take care of that when she woke up. To be honest, I didn't want to know what Grimm left behind. If I found anymore evidence of his violations, I didn't think I'd be able to stop myself from making Niko take over and going out on a half-man hunt.

"He was an asshole Rom, who was trying to kill me and, in turn, kill Nik. So we had to kill him, _quelle surprise._ Ah, yeah, pardon my French. I've been bored after Grimm hightailed it our first round so I've been hanging out with Robin more. He's taught me how to say 'fuck off' in eight languages already."

I rinsed off her legs as I spoke, re-lathered and tried to be extra gentle over her ribs. They were so prominent that I feared I would break them if I scrubbed too hard; her breasts were still pretty pert though. Still almost a c-cup, when last I saw her they had blossomed to that size with her pregnancy. I traced the faint scars that rippled down to them with my bare finger tips, trailing suds as I went. A reminder of the first time I lost her; the Auphe had cut into her and stole her from me. There was a fresh little circle of scar tissue right at the end of one of the claw marks; I guessed that was a reminder of the second time I lost her. "I missed you. I doubt they would have let you have a pen pal locked up with the Vigil, but…ah, I guess you might have thought I was dead. Run through by rebar and coughing up blood as I was. I was pretty fucked up and—"

She made a little sound in the back of her throat. Her legs twitched in the water. "Cas?"

Another twitch, or rather kick, then she was arching up. The towel plopped into the tub and she was flailing backward, failing to sit up. I collected her in my arms, clutching the back of her head to support it, because it didn't seem like she could. "Cas, you're safe. I'm here. It's Cal."

She expelled a breath that almost sounded like my name and stilled. Her hands flopped down into the water like a fish on its last breath and all her weight pressed back on my palm and the arm wrapped around her back. I craned my neck back to see if she'd passed out again, but her eyes were open. Hooded and flickering around like she was seizing, but open. Her full lips moved like she was attempting to speak.

"You're safe, Cassie." I repeated it for good measure, but also because her body seemed to relax every time she heard my voice. Her eyes fixed on mine and I offered a smile. She was holding up her own head now. I brushed my palm over her cheek, keeping close to her nape just in case it did loll back again. "Hey, there."

The side of her mouth curved upward just the slightest bit. Her head dipped forward, jolted upright, then rolled back like a baby trying to stay awake in its highchair. I reclaimed my grip on her nape to right her, just enough pressure to help her out. My thumb grazed over her cheek as she managed that quirk of a smile again. She was still beautiful. Not in the Hollywood way either. Sweet features and daring eyes, sultry pout and rounded chin. She was mine…she was mine and he… "I'm going to kill him, Cassie. I swear to you, I will kill him."

She whispered again. Her mouth so paralyzed she could barely make the motion. I leaned down so my forehead was to her shoulder and she could breath over my ear. And then I heard it, no mistaking it even if I could believe what she'd said: "Castrate him first."

I laughed and lifted my head. "Well, that would certainly screw up his Second Coming bullshit, wouldn't it?" She lifted her eyebrows in agreement, her mouth still sporting that almost smile. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to kiss her and hold her and rejoice that she was alive, but Grimm took that reunion away from. Maybe in time, but right now I just wanted her outside to match her inner fire. "I missed you."

"I'm sorry." I caught that one without leaning in. And I kissed her cheek unable to resist some sort of contact. It was a firm, lingering contact and when I pulled back she turned her head toward me, just slightly and she shook with the effort. I knew what she was asking for, just like me she needed that connection; that assurance that the other was real and actually alive. I gave it to her. Kept it chaste, but I kissed her. Her lips slid over mine sweetly and her brow was puckered when was parted. "I'm sorry."

"Save the apologies and remorse for later. Focus on getting on your feet again. Then maybe you can castrate Grimm yourself. I'll even hold him down for you." Her smile broadened just a bit and I brushed my lips to hers again. "For now I'm going to try and clean you up, okay?"

I fished around her to grab the stained and soaked towel and chucked it out of the tub, taking the one that had been under my knees to fold under her neck again. She relaxed as I laid her back in the tub and watched me when I went back to my task. It didn't feel as creepy now, but unfortunately, it felt more sensual. I stifled the thoughts and scolded myself for thinking that way. In any other situation it wouldn't be wrong. In any other situation I knew she would be all over me if I spoke the things I wanted to do to her. She had mounted me half sedated stuck in a Vigil facility with healing bullet holes in her and a CCTV rolling. But this was different. This was supposed to be cathartic not sexual. Calm it down, Cal.

The rage was fading too. Only coming in spurts whenever I thought about his hands on her or his disgusting fake needle-grilled mouth coursing over her flesh. And then she would murmur something or twist her arm to touch me; she'd turn her head to nudge her nose to my wrist and I would be back. Her scent was rising the more I cleaned her, overpowering the soap and my own senses. I missed the smell. Hawthorne and shadows mixing so well together.

Once her body was sufficiently clean, I rinsed out the tub and plugged it while the water remained running. There were dozens of abrasions and cosmetic scratches on her. Too many to waste time disinfecting. So a salt bath it was. I'd taken one more than several times in my supernatural PI days. It burned, but not nearly as much as stitching an arm together without anesthetics. If I could handle it without much more than an uncomfortable grimace, I knew Cassie would be fine. She didn't even flinch when I sprinkled the salts in. "Okay," I sighed and leaned against the edge of the tub. "Your hair…"

She mouthed the word 'off' and that was all the permission I needed. I rose to cross the bathroom, twice the size of any other I'd been in. I actually didn't like that. It made it difficult when I forgot something while I was in the shower. Having to prancing out sopping wet to the medicine cabinets wasn't fun. I slid back the mirror of one side and plucked the scissors I used for my own hack jobs off of the shelf.

Cassie was testing out her finger movement when I came back. It was stiff and jerky, like her brain was sending too many messages to her nerves and muscles. "Take it easy," I warned her. "There's no rush."

She let off a cute little whine. I understood; being vulnerable in anyway wasn't something we liked to wait out. "Enjoy it, this is the only time I'll be waiting on you hand and foot." She smiled at that, or tried too. I picked up the braid that was half under water and set the open scissors about half way up. It would take off nearly a foot, lessening the mass to just below her shoulder blades. How it got that long in less than a year was beyond me. "Good?"

"All off," she whispered. Or at least that's what it sounded like.

"All off?" I chuckled and shook my head. "No way, I need something to hold on to when I'm—" I cut myself off, almost feeling my heart collide with my larynx. "Shit, Cassie. That was…"

Her eyebrows pulled together, further making me feel like a complete and utter ass, until she said, "No change." It was a simple phrase, but somehow I knew what she meant. She didn't want this to change things. She didn't want us to change. She didn't want me acting differently. It was a tough request, because there was no getting around it. Things had changed, drastically, the moment I saw Grimm taking what had originally been mine. So what if that was a chauvinistic Neanderthal thought; Castiella was mine and I was going to make sure Grimm didn't forget that.

I sawed through her thick hair in silence for a little while. Cutting it where I wanted it. If she wanted to buzz it off later that was her choice, but I was letting my preference be known. If she could move I had no doubt she would have stilled my hands, wanting to talk wanting me to respond, but I wasn't sure how. Everything had changed. Everything had changed even before Grimm. There was so much unresolved between us, related to the relationship as well as completely apart from it.

"I'll try," I finally said with the last snip of honey blond and copper.

I could only promise Cassie that much. Hopefully, it was enough.


	16. Chapter 10 - Cal

**CHAPTER TEN**

**CAL**

Niko told me once that when I was a baby I slept through anything. He said it to tease me about my listening skills during early target practice when I still was arrogant and young enough to think I knew better than him. He claimed he feared I was deaf because I passed out in his arms through the Fourth of July fireworks display he'd snuck me in to watch. Other babies were screaming at the loud pops and bangs, some kids his age were even bawling for their mommy or daddy to make it stop, but there I was curled up in my five-year-old brother's arms without a care in the world. At the time of this story I'd scoffed and told him he was full of shit. I got hit for cursing back then too. Now I knew better. I'd slept through that because I was safe in his arms. And whenever he was around I conked out like the dead. He would protect me, this brother of mine. But as I grew older I innately knew he wouldn't always be there and sometimes my human brother needed protecting too.

So I trained myself and he trained me to wake up at the slightest sound out of place, even from the deepest of sleep. It never worked when Niko was the one making the out of place sound. That natural, my-brother-will-keep-me-safe, mentality always allowed him to sneak up on me like a ninja assassin. It wasn't until I heard the ting of a blade or the whisper of something flying through the air that I would wake and dodge his first-hand lesson in always being prepared. Because of this training ruthlessly ingrained in me, it surprised me when something got by me. Like Cassie falling out of bed.

I actually felt myself snort as I woke up. The bang was enough to shake the frame of the bed and jolt me out of a pretty deep REM cycle, of which I had no intention of falling victim to last night. I was supposed to be watching over her. "Wha– Cas?" I couldn't see her at all. The sheets where she slept were ruffled and the saline bag lay empty and discard on the nightstand, but there was no Cassie. It hadn't registered that the thud of her body to the carpet had been what woke me yet. "Cas?!"

"I'm okay." Her voice came from the floor and I scrambled to the edge of the mattress to see her lying on her back, looking rather defeated. "Hi."

I smiled down at her as she gazed up at me with a pout. It was good to see the expression, made my body immediately relax. Her voice sounded much better and her complexion wasn't as pallid anymore, but her legs were folded under her like they gave out the moment she put weight on them, which was probably what happened. "What are you doing?"

"I had to pee. I know you stayed up all night watching over me so I felt bad for waking you."

I chuckled and slipped off the bed to help her sit up. "I'd much rather you wake me up, than waking up to find you gone. Okay?"

"I almost made it myself."

"Two inches from the bed is almost making it to the bathroom?"

"It is when it's the trip back, but I guess I'm still too weak for that much crawling/walking."

I grunted and lifted my hands from her shoulders. She didn't need much support to sit upright and she urged to me help her stand too. I was reluctant, but considering she just told me she had been able to walk to the bathroom and back before falling down, I relented. It was still amazing how quickly she rallied. I had been partially milking it, but it still took me more than five hours to overcome one Bae bite; here the Harbinger was, taking a stroll to the bathroom after five bites in the same amount of time. "The lids down because I didn't want to flush and wake you, so don't go pissing all over the seat."

I chuckled at her tone, happy to have her sass and vulgarity back in place. She stared down at her feet, flexing her toes into the plush carpet. One of her hand was still latched around my bicep for support. She lost balance when trying to shift her weight though and in my attempt to catch her we both knocked into the nightstand with another harsh bang. "Damn it."

"You're all right," I assured her, steadying her between my arms.

"I don't remember your room ever being this big," she complained.

"Well, that's what you get when your brother's—"

My bedroom door swung open a second later. On instinct, I grabbed Cassie up and tucked her against me for protection, not even caring that she hadn't gathered her legs yet. My other hand when for the gun hanging from a holster on my bedpost, but came up short when I saw who the intruder. My brother stared at us with a katana blade in hand and his long blond hair frizzing out all around his head. I snickered. I didn't see it loose that often and didn't actually realize how long it was until I saw it flowing over his shoulder to his hips. Not only that, but he was in a pair of boxers and nothing else. Even I didn't see Niko ill-clad very often and I lived with the guy all my life. He breathed a sigh of relief seeing the two of us in one piece and without company. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," I offered with a knowing smirk. There were little love bites on his collarbone and one a bit closer to his carotid; they were shallow, superficial wounds barely worse than a paper cut, but they were also very telling. Someone was busy last night. Luckily, I trusted Promise not to fall off the no-blood-feeding bandwagon. She probably just couldn't kick the kink factor there and I didn't judge. I certainly didn't mind when Cassie's Auphe nails dragged down my back and those were a lot more significant than the nip of vamp fangs.

"You have good night, big brother?" I motion to his rumpled look when he tilted his head in confusion. He glanced down and I swore I saw him blush a little. He didn't cover himself, didn't duck out of the room. He knew better, damage was done. Niko sheathed the sword in the scabbard he was holding.

"I heard something crash."

"That was me, sexy," Cassie teased. She was still against me, her body heat close enough that I could feel the little purr in her voice and, for once, I didn't like it. I shot her a look, but it pretty much melted when she grinned up at me. It was her usual smile; that playful, sly curl in her sultry full lips. "Sorry, baby. A girl can't help herself sometimes."

"He's my brother," I countered.

She shrugged and slid her gold-glinting eyes over toward Niko. "What can I say? Momma had good genes." I clenched my jaw. Was she really implying that she had a sexual attraction toward my _brother_? I knew she liked to tease him, but seriously? Cassie continued to grin up at me; her arms coiling around my waist, both for support since her legs were starting to shake from standing for so long as well as to tease me. "If it helps any the fantasy involves both of you."

There was nothing to say to that. I could literally think of nothing to say. I was frozen like a deer in the headlights of a truck, but instead of my life flashing before my eyes it was images much less savory involving my brother's naked ass. "I don't appreciate this confession."

She laughed aloud at that and the mirthful sound almost had me smiling too. "Don't get a complex, little lamb. You are all I want. Some fantasies are just that and never will be more than that; an interesting thought or dream and nothing more. Besides, you can't tell me you didn't have a few dreams involving me and Delilah." She got me there. As much as I hated that wrathful bitch and wanted her entrails strewn across the living room as a conversation piece, she had an amazing body and she was exotic and gorgeous. More than Delilah though, there were several secret scenarios involving Cassie and my first crush, Georgina. Never really mentioned that to Cas though.

A smile tugged at my lips as she eased against me. Her legs were giving out again, but I didn't call attention to it. She was best friends with the king of kinky orgies for a thousand years; some bad habits were going to rub off on her and most of those pervy inclinations I didn't mind. I just had to accept the ones I didn't like and never leave her alone in a room with my brother naked. I dipped my head to take her mouth briefly. Her mahogany eyes were twinkling and creased at the corners from her smile. "Although I have to admit it might just be hair envy."

"Castiella, are you sure you should be on your feet, right now?" Niko asked.

Cas and I both did a little double take, since my brother was suddenly clad in one of my black tees still standing just inside the threshold as if he hadn't moved at all. Stealth dressing…that was a handy skill to have. He was blushing a little too –hard to tell with his olive-toned skin, but I knew. Apparently Cassie's comments affected him more than he wanted to let on, though it was clearly more discomfort in her teasing than him responding favorably to anything she said. He pushed through the distress with impassioned concern, helping me sit Cassie back down on the bed with her exerting no effort for it. He took her thin wrist to check her pulse and touched the back of his hand to her forehead. "You seem to be doing much better, but you shouldn't push it. Your muscles are still atrophied. I don't want you assuming that you can sprint when you should only be standing."

"And yet, you won't even let me stand," she grumbled in rebut. Niko dropped his hand to his knee. He was half crouch in front of her, while I sat down on the mattress beside. I bit my lip to keep from smirking at his chiding glare. Honestly, he treated her more like his little sister than a being over three thousand years his senior; of course, Cassie encouraged his paternal instinct with her reckless behavior that was on par with mine.

"If you injure yourself trying to recuperate too quickly it will only exacerbate your condition."

"Niko, I'm going to be okay," Cassie said. She was still giving him a bemused smile, but the hand she placed on his shoulder was steady as was her gaze. "I don't remember much, but they did keep me moving. It was more physical therapy or like trotting a green horse around a ring on a lead, but I'm not completely handicapped. The weakness I'm suffering is still from the paralytic of those half-succubae. My entire body is on pins and needles."

Niko paused. His head was bowed for a long moment and Cassie didn't even hide the fact that she was curling one lock of his blond hair around her finger while her hand remained on his shoulder. I wanted to smack it away in play…well, half in play. After her comment about fantasies I was getting a little jealous; my brother was a better man than me after all.

"Cassie, I know this might be hard for you, but when you feel prepared to…we need to know what happened."

"Nik." She paused. I watched her eyebrows pull in and her round face tilt to one side. I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to know what she went through, but I strained my ears all the same. "I know you might hate it, but…I need to French braid your hair into pigtails. It needs to be done." I held in my laughter for all of two seconds and they were silent only because I was too shocked by her answer. I leaned my forehead to her shoulder, tears forming the corner of my eyes when air became hard to grasp between hysterical convulsions.

When I finally caught my breath, Niko had braided his long hair back himself. An uncharacteristic look of bashful irritation on his face. Cassie was all smiles. "It will happen one day," she promised him with a confident lift in her brow. "You can't escape it now. You hair-tease."

"Castiella," Niko attempted again for a more serious tone and Cassie waved him off.

"I know you want the play by play, Niko, but I can't give it to you." Her shoulder rounded as she leaned back, almost fell against the bed, then leaned in to me when I offered the support. It felt good to have her heat against my shoulder. I wrapped my arm low on her waist so I could keep her upright even with my knuckles grazing the sheets. "There's very little I remember. And that which I do remember…well, I can't tell it if was dream, hallucination, or reality. The Vigil kept me pretty doped up once I finally started showing signs of wanting to leave—"

"What?" I cut in. My hand unconsciously gripped at her hip. That sounded like she had wanted to stay at some point. I watched her heart-shaped face pan toward me with an expression of guilt.

"When they revived me…it was more than just a wake-up call. Cal, I know what I did. I know it was triggered because I thought my love and my son were taken in the same moment, but that monster…I didn't ever want to become that again."

Sometimes I forgot how vicious Cassie could be. There was a reason for her title of Harbinger and all the horrific tales that tacked onto the name. Hard to imagine it with her so tiny and soft in my arms. She had slaughtered hundreds of peris for the Auphe, before she realized they were only using her without love. She'd killed sixty or so werewolves the night Dante was killed and I suffered pretty mortal injuries that were only relieved because I knew the best healer on planet Earth. And that wasn't even counting her Auphe body-count or any other shenanigan bloodbaths she got into with Robin over the centuries.

"You're not a monster—"

"Oh, stuff it, Niko," she snapped at my brother. I kept my mouth shut. It was something I'd wanted to say when Niko cajoled me with those words time and time again. "When I murder indiscriminately and with cold abandon that is a monster. I'm not a monster right now, but I can be. And when they woke me up I knew I would go right back to it the moment I set foot in a world without Cal and my son. I wanted it to burn. I wanted it all to burn to the ground." She stopped for a moment to take in a long breath. She leaned over her legs and covered her face with her hands. "A part of me knew that I needed to be shackled so I let myself be shackled. And then one of the white coats in that lab let it slip that you were alive." Cassie lifted her head to fix her eyes on me. She gave a little smile. I leaned in to her touch when her fingers drifted over my jaw. "It wasn't a world without you, but they wouldn't let me be a part of it."

"They started drugging you." Cassie nodded. I kissed her palm and collected her into my arms. It wasn't enough just to support her body anymore, I needed to feel her against me. "They put the module in your neck, they drugged you to the point of complete sedation, and they handed off an urn of ashes to me, just to keep it all the way they wanted."

"They strapped on the anti-gate before I even woke up the first night," Cassie corrected. "But the rest is true. By the time Grimm's offspring tracked me down I didn't know what was up or down. Even in his breeding cave, I dreamt about the labs, I dreamt about your old apartment. I think I got away from him for a little while, but I can't be sure. I kept seeing you in this weird farm house, but…you were never actually there. And then Grimm was upon me again…and you _were_ there. And now I'm here."

She shrugged at the end, like it was all nothing and just her retelling a story about that time on the subway or taking a stroll to work. I pressed my cheek to her crown, stroking my fingers up and down her spine. She rested against me without complaint even if the angle was probably a little uncomfortable, since her legs were still dangling over the mattress. Niko remained in his crouched position. I could tell when he rubbed at the bridge of his nose he wanted more. Especially with her mentioning a farm house, he wanted more. Was she in New Mexico? Had she sprung the other peris before she was taken by Grimm? If so, who burned it down? Neither of us could tell if Castiella was being vague because that was truly all she remembered, or she just didn't want to reveal what I wouldn't want to hear. My brother was on the edge of pressing the issue, but at my glare he checked himself. Those would be questions we'd ask at a later time. He stood from the floor, leaned over Cassie and dropped a kiss to her temple.

"Welcome home, Cassie." With that, he left the room, leaving the door cracked. It seemed more like the gesture of a nervous father letting his son have a girl in his room than a cautious warrior untrusting that the imaginary threat was gone. He feared Grimm would find us here; so did I.

We stayed like that for a long time. Cassie pulled her feet up onto the bed and shifted into more of a sleeping position against me. I punched a pillow behind my back and settled in, determined not to fall asleep this time. Lying with her between my legs and draped over my chest as she was, left little room for quick reactions should someone infiltrate the room, but holding her against me was not only comforting, it allowed me to gate the moment a felt another. Even with the module in her neck, Cassie could obviously gate in someone else's power. Grimm wouldn't take her here to New York, knowing I was still present. Not even to gloat. No, I was well aware that Cassie had taken his gate and shifted the exit. She'd done it to mine before and I doubted the anti-gate module would stop her.

"He didn't smell like you…the you in my dreams."

It took me a second to answer her; I'd thought she had fallen asleep. "What did he smell like?"

"Foxgloves." That hit hard. I closed my eyes and clutched her to me a little more tightly.

"I miss him too, Cas."

Cassie jarred me awake again when the light beyond the curtains was a murky blue gray; a part of morning I never liked visiting: 6am. This time I stirred from her weight on my chest, peering through sleepy eyes to watch her half crawl into the crook of my splayed arm. I smirked and tilted my head. Cassie dropped her chin to her hands, which were folded along my ribs.

"I have to pee again," she announced and slipped off the bed. I snickered; well, I had asked her to wake me. She didn't need my help at all though. Her movements were still shaky, but stronger than they had been a few hours earlier. I propped myself up on my elbows nonetheless. Watched her progression; the little sway in her step that was not the usual prowl and swish she used to tease me, the second's brace her hand placed on the threshold of the bathroom, and the subtle gesture of touching the back of her neck. The module was bothering her; she would probably never mention it, but I could tell.

And there was nothing I could do about it. It wasn't as crude as before. Instead of a few prongs digging into her skin to barely touch her spine, it was a thick ring that, no doubt encased her spine. I had no idea how they even got it inside her, but there was no hope for tearing it out. There were a lot of things a peri could survive; spinal damage, head trauma, bullet wounds, and significantly more blood loss than a human. Niko even went back to the warehouse where Dante died, hoping he had inherited some of his mother's hardiness on that aspect. My brother never told me where he went, but I knew, and by the quiet dinner we had had that night he found no trace of my late son. All this considered I still knew that cutting the spine completely would kill Castiella. And she knew it too, which is why she didn't ask us to remove it.

Our grand healer was off who knew where with his cousin and pack, never to be heard from again quite possibly. And we didn't know of any others in the city skilled enough to work with something so inorganic. Tools were possible, but the thought of bearing a hand-held circular saw so close to her neck made my palms sweat. Judging by her body language as she came back into the bedroom, she wasn't letting the handicap bother her. Or at least she wasn't worrying about it, until we could do something with it.

"You seem to be doing better," I commented when she slunk back onto the bed. I couldn't control my leer either; even in my tee and boxers, even battered and scared, she was beautiful. And that prowl of hers… "You can bounce back from anything, can't you?"

"Of course, I'm a Leandros after all," she cooed. I laughed at that, finding my fingers naturally slipping into her hair as she crawled over to me. She wasn't a Leandros by blood, but the last time we were together I'd pretty much proposed to her and she obviously hadn't forgotten that.

Her arms braced to either side of me, her smile hovering over mine. Our lips met briefly, then she eased down onto my chest. I couldn't tell if it was due to weakness in the limbs or that she just wanted to cuddle. My fingers remained stroking through the hair I'd cut yesterday.

I wasn't never skilled at articulating any emotion other than anger and cynicism, so I didn't try. The sensation of her warmth draped over me, the vibration of her heart thrumming against mine…it was overwhelming. Things I'd lost. Things I'd never thought I'd regain. Things I'd erased from my brain to get through life without her. It was bittersweet. The happiness I felt with her present in my bed once again brought guilt. We had still lost something. Something precious and innocent. I shouldn't have been so content, but one can only mourn for so long.

"I love you, Cali," she whispered. Her breath seeped through the fabric of my shirt, heating up my skin beneath. She traced her fingertips over the warmth. I closed my eyes, still smiling.

"I love you, Cas." She lifted her head and braced her chin on her hand. Eyes fixed on mine. She snickered and touched my chin where the skin bunched since I was at an odd angle looking down. I replied with my palm over the fading scars on her jaw. "We should call Robin today. If I don't tell him you're here soon, I'll never hear the end of it when he finds out."

"Yay." She said it in a weary whisper, but I could tell she was excited by her smile. Probably the only one excited about the puck barging into our house; tomorrow guaranteed, if we got to call him today.

Cassie's smile shifted; a ghost crossing over her features. "Thank you for saving me."

"If I had known," I started, but she shook her head. She pulled up my body to press another kiss to my lips, telling me to shut up. She said her piece and that was that. She knew I would have tore down every Vigil wall should I have known she was trapped within. She knew I would have set my flamethrower on Grimm if I had figured out he wasn't lying about having her any sooner than I did. It was unsaid, but known.

There was a problem though. One that arose when she deepened the kiss to one more passionate. When she shifted over me to skate her hands beneath my shirt. I reciprocated, my body more than willing to experience the connection with hers once again, but my mind had another agenda. All I could see behind hooded eyes were those Bae clawing and biting her pale flesh. Grimm hunched over her and rocking, relishing the torture he gave. I could hear her feet kicking in the slush and her screams piercing the cold air. And then it was me. I was holding her down. Her weakened vulnerable body under me, struggling to be free as I took her.

A little gasp caught in my throat and I pulled back from our embrace. "Cassie…"

She returned to bracing her arms to either side of me. I could feel her hair fluttering against my arms as it fell over her shoulders. I couldn't open my eyes yet. The images were too clear, edged with red. "I can't, Cas…I could have taken you just as easily. With you like that, it could have been me."

"Cal, what are you talking about?"

I opened my eyes, hating to see the pain in her wrinkled brow, the disquieted pucker in those full lips. "When –In the bathtub, I thought. You were just so vulnerable. So trusting in my arms and I could have just taken you right then and there. Just like Grimm. And I keep seeing it…"

Cassie brushed her hand over my cheek, a small smile on her face. It was like the ones Niko gave me when I said I was capable of kicking his ass but just chose not to so he wouldn't get a complex. That 'oh, honey, how cute' smile. "I could have, Cassie."

"But you wouldn't," she replied. So sure of herself, of me.

"I'm half Auphe. You always seem to forget that."

Cassie sighed. "I never forget that, Cal. So am I, but just because you're the same mix as Grimm doesn't mean you are like him. It's the individual that makes the monster and you are not a monster."

"Not right now, but I can be. Just like you." She didn't seem to like me throwing the argument she used against Niko in her own face, but she didn't get angry. She was just as patient as my brother. I suppose that really did come with age.

Cassie sat back on her legs. Her warmth parted completely from me. I hated that I wanted to grab her and pull her back. "Did you want to? Take me?"

I stayed silent for a moment or two, mostly because I didn't want to prove her right. The thought crossed my mind as quickly as the sickened feeling hit my stomach. I hadn't wanted to take her, but it frightened me that I could. She'd been so much stronger than me. She knew how to wield the gates like Nik knew how to turn a sword. Most would take my hesitation as a meek maybe, but Cassie just smirked and shook her head. "You can't hide from me, Cal. I can read those eyes like child's book. It isn't the thought that you might rape me one day that scares you, it's that it was possible that night. My badass image as been shattered."

"Something like that, I guess."

Cassie tapped her palm to the side of my head in the mildest form of head-slap I'd ever experienced. "I'll get back on my feet and kicking your ass in no time, don't you worry about that. And, just so you know, with you it can never be rape."

I scoffed at that. "That isn't possible, Cassie. You can't want sex from me _all_ the time." She lifted her darker eyebrows in challenge. "It's not possible."

"You really don't realize how often I have to resist ripping your pants off and riding you like a rodeo horse?" I shook my head in disbelief, although she had already been making sly comments from the moment her voice was back so I was beginning to wonder. She leaned over me. "Cal, I want you _all_ the time. I don't know if it's the Auphe or just our chemistry, but it's bad. I'm like a nympho when you're near me."

"I don't think you would have appreciated it last night."

"Probably not, but you would have never done anything like that last night."

I ran my hands over my face and dropped my head back on the pillow. Her words were slowly sinking in and whether I believed them or not they still bolstered my ego. "Seriously? All the time?"

That sultry smile teased at her mouth, then mine for a moment. "All the time. Right now, in fact, but I won't pressure you." She paused again. Her little smile faded ever so slightly. "What you saw…I wish you hadn't."

"If words made any difference, I wish it hadn't happened," I sighed. I ran my fingers through her unevenly cut hair, trailing my other hand up her side and over the roundness of her shoulder. I wanted her, I did, but not yet…not now. "The Vigil has asked us to meet with them today; they wouldn't tell us what for, but I'm guessing it has something to do with you. I think Niko's planning on pushing it back—"

Castiella's dark eyes rounded and she lifted up a little. I was glad to see her more mobile, but I much preferred her lying on me instead of this back and forth. "No, don't. I want to know what's been going on."

"I don't want them seeing you." It was bad enough Grimm knew about her vulnerability, I didn't want the Vigil knowing they could still go toe to toe with her without a sniper in a high tower.

"Fair enough, but if they tell you they had me and lost me you could at least find out what they did to me without even letting on that you have me stowed away," she countered, then quickly amended. "Well, Nik can find out without letting on, you might want to just keep your mouth shut."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

She waved me off. "A better man knows his strengths and his weaknesses, there is nothing wrong with you being tactlessly honest, but I think you're right in that we need to keep me a secret from them. I would prefer to stay in your arms for more than a couple of months this time."

I snorted. "Me too, which is why we shouldn't go tempting fate. I don't want you anywhere near them and I'm not willing to leave you alone so Grimm can swoop in while my back is turned."

Cassie tilted her head to one side with an incredulous look, a little insulted even. Probably because I was insinuating that she still couldn't hold her own against Grimm. Honestly she couldn't. I couldn't when I didn't have my gates and, granted I wasn't as skilled a fighter as Cassie, I didn't think her well enough to take him on even hand to hand. "Then send Niko and Promise, or Robin. The Vigil would even be less likely to attack them if it's a trap too."

I considered this for a moment. We needed to know what they had been giving her, if only to know the side effects and to never give it to her by mistake. And finding out what else they'd been screwing around with inside her would also tell us if I needed to invest in some Auphe spermicidal condoms. Lastly, Robin or Promise might even be silver-tongued enough to weasel information on how to remove the module on her neck from them. Hopefully it was as simple as an access code we could plug in somewhere. "I'll talk to Nik, but you're stuck here with me."

A grin blossomed over her face, her eyes glinting with mischief as she returned to half-lying across my chest. "Fine by me, little lamb." I would have told her to behave, but my lips were a little busy.


	17. Golden Boy - 5

**GOLDEN BOY**

_Nightmares, by definition, were a subconscious representation of fears, doubts, and anxieties. Failure as well. It was no surprise that they littered my sleep and slipped into my waking moments like an assassin out for the thickest of bloods._

_I failed her. My own mother. The woman who bore me and kept me from them for as many months as she could. I still didn't know if she gave me up or if I was taken. I didn't know if she searched for me or erased me from her mind, but I should have never failed her as I had._

_There was blood and claws and gates. The fight between Grimm and I was a bloodbath all its own. My heart raced with the adrenaline of it, anticipating his calculated moves, blocking his paths to my mother, and shutting his gates before he could flee. Nova fought off his children as I sunk my teeth into the father's flesh. And then the fire…_

_I didn't know how it started, but its growth was instantaneous and it struck fear into the depths of my consciousness. I froze at the sight of it, the feel of the heat on my skin, and he was on her in a breath. I wanted to scream for a father that wasn't there. Nova was trapped in an inferno with those children of hell and my mother was captured in the devil's arms._

_Grimm grinned at me. The flame's reflection danced across his metal teeth. He gated and I was paralyzed to stop him. I could have followed, stretched the gate and dove after him, but my body brought me to Nova's side. Her lungs choking on smoke and her body listing into mine with fragility. I took her away; away from everything that was lifting to ashes and away from Grimm and all his abominations. I abandoned my mother. I failed her and the nightmares fed off of that like ravaging coyotes._

_I sat on a hotel room bed, bathed in my own sweat and shivering in the darkness. I felt Nova's weight shift beside me, for the first time trusting enough to sleep in my presence. Her hand, scared with burns, touched my knee. Her long fingers gripped the blanket covering the joint as she sat up. The connection slowed my heart rate, brought me back to the present instead of the blaze that crept behind my eyelids._

"Hey, it's okay," she whispered. Her voice was like honey to my salted wounds. Her chest brushed my shoulder, when she wrapped her other arm around me from behind. Her palm caressed my damp back without hesitation…without caution. "We'll find her."

"How?"

She didn't answer for a while, She cast her eyes down to the sheets tangled around our legs and started readjusting them in the silence. "Why did you save me instead of her?"

I couldn't answer with confidence, so I just shook my head. _Nova had trusted me where no other would. She hadn't cowered at the sight of me. She never cast out words of 'vile demon' or 'monster' like her kin had. She was the first to accept me as I was, but how was that enough to abandon a being of my own flesh and blood?_

"Such a peculiar boy," she murmured and slid off the bed. I watched her; the movement was a welcomed distraction from the disjointed screams in my head. _My mother hadn't screamed, hadn't been conscious, yet I could hear the sound echoing off the walls of my brain as if she had._ "Well, if I'm to help you find her, as I intend to do, I'm going to need something to call you."

"You're going to help me?" She was free now. Free of her burdens to return to her clan.

"You saved my life."

I shook my head again. "You owe me no debt, Nova."

"It isn't a debt…it's a choice." She knew I couldn't argue that with anything but hypocrisy. _Nova turned from the mirror over the open sink. She was braiding her hair as it had fallen out of its fastener sometime in her own restless sleep. It still smelled of smoke even after a shower; smoke, shampoo and her own honeysuckle scent. Or maybe the odor of charred hair and gasoline was just imbedded so deeply into my nostrils that I couldn't escape it._

"Hey, stay with me, daydreamer." She snapped her fingers low to get my attention. "Where do you go when you get that far off look?"

"Go? Nowhere," I replied in confusion. "There are no conclusive studies on astral projection, so I imagine I never actually leave this plane of existence, except perhaps in the split second it takes for me to walk through a gate." When that wasn't the answer she seemed to want, I paused to reconsider the question. "I guess I sink into myself?"

"You learned everything you know from the internet, did you?" I inclined my head to affirm and Nova made a small sound that teased my ears like music. She turned back to the mirror to finish the braid, watching me in the reflection. "And you treat every day as a lesson learned."

"Isn't it?" Her words were confusing me even further. Was I responding inappropriately? "Are you questioning me or making statements? I'm unsure."

She smiled at that; it was a kind, calm smile_. Everything about her reminded me of red clay. Her skin, her eyes, her ability to adapt and reform with strength or gentle passivity to compliment the situation and her value. _"Did you search names while perusing Wikipedia and redtube?"

I snickered. It was a strange purr in the back of my throat as I had little practice with emotive responses to amusement, but she seemed to understand the sound for what it was. "I hope you mean youtube."

"By that response, you know exactly what I mean." Nova was teasing me, but to what end? As a peri sins of the flesh, including masturbatory release, were to be scolded and deterred. Likewise with many other aspects of life that were unavoidable; trickery, egotism, and wrath among others. Did she mean to shame me for my indiscretions in researching things that any being needed to explore in order to understand procreation and the workings therein? Or was it a plot to catch me off guard and flee? She knew she could leave at anytime…

"I'm not preaching. That 'thou shalt not' decree is dated. Only the oldest of the mothers and fathers still frown upon the simple desire of intimacy, virtual or otherwise." Nova smoothed down the flyaways around her crown and turned back to me. I looked a shambles in the mirror; like a man just saved from drowning. Nova didn't seem to take notice. "I was asking about names, particularly yours."

"I don't have one. The name the Auphe gave me doesn't translate well. Key to the Undoing, Son of the Unmaker…they don't really fit the English language, or any language."

"So we think of one," Nova sat down at the foot of the bed with one leg tucked under her. It wasn't the position of one about to flee. She wanted to stay. She genuinely wanted to help me. And she was actively trying to distract me from my nightmares. "Let's see. Would you like a simple name? Like Matthew or Paul?"

"Those are both derived from the bible. I'm undeserving of those names."

Nova fell silent for a moment, the glee in her dark eyes fading just a bit, before she smile and countered with: "So Samael's out of the question then?"

The thought of that actually got a little chuckle out of me. The fallen angel of death. It suited, but didn't fit. "What about a more contemporary name? Like Aiden, Jayce, or Gavin? I could just call you Gray. Those eyes of yours really do stand out."

"I don't know," I answered honestly. I could tell she was having a little fun with the guessing game and I didn't wish to spoil it, but I'd never really considered naming myself. I felt like I already had a name, I just couldn't find it.

"Would you rather a nickname then? Slugger? Champ? Quick-gate McQuinn?"

I felt my brow twist, unconsciously puckering as something ticked inside me. _Champ. Something within was trying to alert me to that familiarity. Like a sound file so filled with white noise I could barely detect the bass, but still…someone had called me Champ and, "Ace."_

Nova blinked at me when my voice cut into hers. "Ace?"

"Someone used to call me Ace."

Nova lifted her chin with a smile as if learning this was a triumph. She squeezed my knee with a steady pressure that somehow grounded me again. "Ace, it is. So, are you going to let me look at those wounds now?"

I'd denied her when we first slipped into the hotel room, but obviously her relenting was only for the moment. "They're superficial," I argued again. Nova's lower lip thinned out as she pressed them together. Her dark eyes flickered down to give a pointed look at the sheets behind me. I followed her gaze and saw the mess I'd made of them. Stained from dirt and sweat initially, they were now smeared with drying blood from reopened lacerations and a pattern of yellow ooze from more substantial wounds I had been attempting to ignore.

"I will hold you down, if I have to," Nova warned, though it was spoken with a grin. I wasn't sure how to respond. I needed the aid that she could give me, but she needed to concentrate her powers on healing the burns that traced up the right side of her body. I touched her wrist carefully, where the rippled red skin crawled over to her knuckles in blisters, lessening by the hour, but still not faded.

"I'm healing, Ace, better than you are, I might add." She hit me under my chin to force me to lift my eyes. "Go shower. I'll get some new sheets from a cleaner's cart and patch you up when you're done."

I complied with her request, showering and scrubbing the grime from my body. The lacerations on my shoulder were the worse, cross crossing in lighter rents along my back. Grimm had slammed me into the ground face-first and commenced carving out my back, possibly in search of my spine. I knocked him off with my wings before he could find what he was looking for. There were burns on my hands where I'd clutched the flames leaping from Nova's body and a knife wound in my side. _Grimm_ _knew he had to upgrade his meager weapons against my claws_.

"Ace, get out here before you prune," Nova called from the cracked doorway. I wasn't willing to close the door. _Grimm could return. He had what he wanted, but he also wanted me. My help, my aid, my genes to press on with his failed Second Coming_. I slipped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist for propriety's sake. Her eyes roved over me in a manner that didn't really fit the preliminary assessment of a doctor, the little smirk on her lips didn't either, but she said nothing to explain or even acknowledge the fleeting expression.

Nova sat me down on the edge of the bed so she could climb onto the mattress behind me. I closed my eyes as she worked over the slashes on my back. It was an interesting sensation; her hands never touched me, but I could feel them_. The shape of her palms caressing over the controls of my muscles. The ghost of her fingertips pressing to my skin –under my skin– and nudging the multiplying cells in her desired direction. Knitting the split flesh closed. I only twitched in discomfort when she grazed her power over the knife wound on my side. She had to dig deeper there; it was the only moment her inexperience showed, but her efforts were honest and graceful._

After a few minutes, Nova placed her hands to my temples and guided my head back to view her image inverted. "How are you holding up? Is it too much?"

"No," I told her. In fact, it felt pleasant. Her touch, or her power, was cool to my fevered skin; heated due to my own body's attempts to heal. Nova's brow looked twisted and when I reached up to brush a hand to her cheek it came back damp. She was sweating with exertion and obviously stretching her powers too thin. "You don't have to overexert yourself. It's taxing you."

Nova smiled down at me, a little snicker escaping her nose. Her lips touched lightly to my forehead. It was a simple and swift gesture, but it sent warmth careening through my body, like a blanket folding around me to protect from the chill of Tumulus. _A warmth that reached bone and soul._

"You're adorable, you know that? Makes it impossible to abandon you."

I felt my mouth curve down without my control_. I had been abandoned, by all, by the world. What was drawing Nova to me was not enough to keep my parents close. All that kept me did so with purpose. I was a tool to be used for others' means. Except, Nova had obtained her freedom from me and she remained. Was it her virtues as a peri that tethered her to me?_

"You're not alone anymore, Ace. I'll stay for as long as you need me." I shifted on the bed, pulling up one leg so I could face her. _She presented a concept I had yet to ever consider. A companion, a friend. The closest I'd come had been with my teachers and far too quickly I was to slit their throats or watch the Auphe feast on their organs, while they screamed in death. Part of me was lifted by the thought that I could have a partner in this horrid life and another feared that she would share the same fate as those before her that looked at me with pity instead of trepidation and wrath. I wanted to ask her why. I didn't understand what drew her to me. Some psychologists believed that high-adrenaline, stressful situations could alter the perception of a relationship; destroying a strong one or creating one where little to no foundation was established. Facing the events she had been exposed to stress, abuses, and near-death experiences all with me as the only constant. Could that be the reason she gazed at me with such intensity?_

Little experience with body language let her catch me off guard. Her mouth was upon mine before I even registered such as a possible action. It wasn't a rational action. It didn't make sense at all, but the sensation, the feel of her soft, warm lips forming to mine as her hand drifted over my collarbone to seal a scratch there…it flipped a switch within me. I returned the pressure of her mouth, mimicking the motions she was teaching. Marveling at the heat it spurned down my front. I pulled back when I felt the pulsing hardness between my legs stiffen. That was the first time a direct touch had instigated that reaction.

When I pulled back my body automatically lifted from the bed, separating myself from the beast that growled at me. _It whispered for me to take her, use her for my means, for my release_. I concentrated on my breathing; tried to slow my racing pulse and diminish the heat overtaking me.

"Ace, I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that so suddenly…your reactions are just so innocent, I…"

I shook my head. I couldn't look at her right now, knowing she was knelt on the bed waiting _for a stronger creature to make her theirs_. Suddenly the tee shirt and jeans she wore weren't enough of a barrier to quell the desires flowing through me. "I've never…" I had to pause to catch my breath again, before the animal snarled within. "You can't do that I don't know how to control that which I've never experienced."

"It's a natural reaction," she offered. Her tone was meek for the first time. I risked a look her way and saw the curled eyebrows of one hurt, not physically. I hadn't hurt her physically, not yet.

"Nova, I've never even touched another with the intentions I just felt. I refuse to use you for those means. You escaped Grimm to be free of that purpose. Why would you tempt the demon within me?"

Nova's lips parted. I had to clench down on the urge to capture them again. _The lust in me was feral and depraved. Not a weakness, but a strength that swelled and pressed against my control. I couldn't let it break through._ "I didn't really expect it to go that far. It was your first kiss, wasn't it? I didn't think you would even understand how to take it farther."

"And what if I had?" I snapped. My teeth were bared. _Like an animal cornered, startled by a new predator it'd never seen before. Only the prey was my resolve and the need to have her would devour it in a heartbeat. Nova had found a chink in my well-forged armor. I'd held back that Auphe for so long and with just a kiss it burned every nerve._ "What if I had taken you like he had? I'm not a child, Nova, I know the process of sex! And I'm not innocent either. There is a darkness in me, even you cannot fathom. Do not tempt it."

"Fine, I won't do it again," she countered. The strength had returned to her voice and her jaw was set. Instead of cowering before the monster, she slid off the bed and stood before it. "Let me finish healing you."

"No, you've done enough."

"You stubborn fool," she hissed back. "How are you to experience anything if you fear a shadow?"

My head turned with a neck twitch, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip for the second it took me to stop from grabbing her. She was too close. _I could smell honeysuckle and I wanted to taste it._ "You are underestimating me, Nova."

"No, you are," she refuted. Her hand grazed my cheek and I smacked her away. I saw her eyes flash like a lantern; I was trying her temper, but I could not fail in this as well. "You aren't Grimm! You aren't cut from that mold, Ace. You're like your mother, who stood before us and sacrificed her virtue and power to protect us, a race that shunned her for thousands of years. You housed those people by your side, protecting them, saving them. You saved _me_. That is why I like you, that is why I kissed you." She straightened to stand tall before me, proudly like a princess of her tribe. "You are so much more than him, Ace. What you're holding back isn't a demon, but a part of yourself."

I studied each of her eyes, searching for uncertainty or fear, but I found none. "What if I can't stop?"

"Have you ever been kicked in the groin?" My brow knotted at the question and shook my head. Nova gave me a half smile. "You'll stop."

"After everything he did to you…"

Her eyes cast down to the thin carpet between us, either in guilt or shame. "He never raped me. Peris have cycles during which they are able to reproduce. We go into heat, for lack of a better term. He knew I wasn't in cycle yet, you would too if you'd ever smelled a peri in cycle." She took in a long breath, which came out as a short laugh. "The children couldn't have me either. They avoided me because I kept stabbing them with their own teeth that I ripped out. I'm not helpless, Ace."

I closed my eyes to stave off another vicious surge of lust to test that claim. Nova's heart was fluttering just as quickly as mine. _Her heat felt like it was burning my flesh when she drew nearer._ "It was only a kiss, Ace."

"What if it becomes more?" I challenged. Did she not see how much the beast desired to devour her, to claim her strength as its own, and her body… Opening my eyes, her expression hadn't changed. Stout-hearted and trusting.

"If it does it will be by my choice as much as yours."

I resisted for as long as three heartbeats, then I took her mouth as mine. The heat swelled between us as intensely as the inferno we escaped. Nearly felt as if it would burn us alive when our bare skin touched. I tore her clothes from her body, desperate to incinerate the both of us. I explored her every curve and crevice, trying to treat it as a lesson instead of a need. She shattered those attempts when she touched me. It was at her pleas that we joined completely; a sensation, an action, no words could describe.

She let me take her. Not as an expression of submission, but as an act of pleasure. The give and take of a crashing wave and its undertow. I could never repay her for what she gave me that night or those that followed. I felt alive and free for the first time in my life. I knew, even the Auphe could never felt what I felt.


	18. Chapter 11 - Cal

**CHAPTER ELEVEN **

**CAL**

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a location that offers a Wi-Fi connection without having to succumb to the smell of burnt coffee?"

I itched my nose as I leaned back on the leather couch, wondering why Robin still thought I cared about his first world problems. Though, I could imagine it might be difficult for him to find a Wi-Fi location as far out in New Mexico as he and the Assembly were. Robin's lilting tones were accompanied by his self-proclaimed 'ridiculously handsome' image over Skype this time, so I could see just how irritated he was for being called away from his lover again.

Behind him I could see a wide table, layered with green and besieged with many tiny little figurines climbing up fake looking rock formations and felt grass knolls. The only time I'd ever seen such a thing was when a sitcom was making fun off table-top games the socially inept geeks liked to play. Granted their community loyalty was a hell of a lot more steadfast than most. So maybe they were just socially inept when it came to assholes like me. There were two guys in view of the screen that I could see, both with a pile of dice before them and twin expressions of serious concentration on their faces.

"Where the hell are you?" I asked. Robin glanced over his shoulder at the Stretch and Tubby, both of whom were well on their way to joining a lumber jack society with those beards. Or maybe the hipster community, not sure. "Are you at a gamer store?"

"They had free Wi-Fi," Goodfellow defended. "And I do believe they are the better audience for whatever you have to say as opposed to the coffee slinging dredges of America." I lifted my eyebrows in acceptance of that. Dungeons and Dragons geeks probably wouldn't freak out too much if someone was talking about vampires and Wendigo over Skype around them. Probably would think it was a new game out; if there wasn't already one out there.

"What's wrong with your phone? I have a hard time believing you, of all people, don't have a hot spot."

Robin rolled his eyes and let off an exaggerated sigh. "I sometimes forgot how inane these deep, traditionalist peris can be. I thought it would do the entire camp a great service if I should set an alarm since they seemed so keen on moving out early the next morning. There was a great debate on what moment was sunrise and what degree it would crest the sky, so I found out and set the alarm. One of the more…primal of peri warriors thought it was an enraged bird and shot an arrow through our tent to kill it. He was a very good shot."

I snorted, imaging how that wake up call went, but more importantly, "You were in a tent? Where ever did you plug in your blow dryer?"

"Oh Caliban," he let off another one of those 'you're such a hopeless idiot' sighs, except this one was for me. "I predate the use of any sort of shelter fabrication be it animal hide or a frond leaf, you think I have never been in a tent before?" He waved a dismissive hand to stop me from making anymore witty quips. Behind him, Stretch was giving him an admiring look, probably thinking he was very good at playing his 'character'. "So tell me what the emergency is? Since you seem to be in one piece I'm assuming Grimm only took a hunk out of your cheek before taking to the wind."

I pressed my lips together, trying not to notice how it pulled at the scabs on my face. With Cassie in her condition, I had been able to effectively erase it from my mind, but Grimm swiped me pretty hard and it would probably leave scars again if I didn't treat it. They would match the scars on Cassie's jaw from the Auphe; a regular Sid and Nancy, we were. Thankfully, it didn't dig deep enough to slice all the way through to my teeth, but the bravado in Goodfellow's voice belied his concern. Any incident with Grimm was a reason to be concerned now. "You might want to get a flight back here."

"Let me call Jeeves and tell him to bring the private jet around," he deadpanned.

I hadn't worked out how to tell him Castiella was alive, but I did think it best for her to wait until after I said the words to show her face. I didn't need the old goat dying of a heart attack on me.

The laptop was aptly on my lap while I sat on the white leather chair on my side of the apartment. Cassie and Promise were in the kitchen working on lunch. Well, Promise was working on lunch, while Cas had been exiled to an island stool by Niko, whom was still a bit leery of her moving about too much. My brother was sitting on the arm of the sofa beside me, watching Cassie and keeping close to me. I had wanted him to do this little live update, but he plopped the computer down on my lap just as it was connecting.

"Listen, Loman, something happened here and you'll probably want to be home for this."

"Cut the theatrics. It can't be that bad. You're calmer than I've seen you in weeks even with those cuts on your face, so Niko has to be within gating distance of you, safe and sound. Is Promise all right?" I lifted my brow at the genuine concern there. He and Promise never really got along, for more than just personality differences, but when something attacked one of us, it attacked all of us and Robin would step in for Promise's sake just as quickly as for mine.

"Promise is fine," I answered, realizing the longer I drew this out the more conclusions he would jump too. "You remember how you said that urn the Vigil gave you was fake and not worth a dust particle of the original?"

"Poorly paraphrased, but, yes I recall." His green eyes were searching mine with suspicion. Considering I didn't even want to admit Castiella existing a month ago, it was no surprise me bringing up her supposed resting place would disturb him.

"Well, same goes for what's inside."

I watched his expression change on the screen. At first it was just a subtle lift of one eyebrow and creases forming on either side of his mouth. That was a look he usually sported right before I got to here an hour-long lecture about how something I said was incredibly inaccurate. Within a second, though, he figured out that I wasn't degrading Cassie, but whatever was inside the urn. That was when his mouth parted and his brow lifted; that light blub moment where his eyes lit up. "Cal…"

"She's alive, Robin."

He braced his hands to the table whatever computer he was using was sitting on and took in a long breath through his nose. "Grimm?"

I cringed. "He had her for a while, yeah, but she's safe now." I shifted on the couch and picked up the laptop, pivoting it around so the back of the screen rested on my chest and the camera faced out to where the ladies were. Cassie glanced over at the motion, bright-eyed and in good spirits as she smiled and waved to Robin. I heard the puck breath out a string of non-English syllables as I made my way to the kitchen and placed the laptop on the island in front of Cassie. Niko had followed me, but, instead of joining us, went over to help his lover at the stove. Castiella requested bacon and eggs as her first solid meal in a while and who were we to deny her?

In the same rapid-fire language Robin spoke in, Cassie responded with a little laugh. I'd never seen the puck so flabbergasted, not even the last time I told him his best friend was alive. Of course back then he never had any visual proof she was dead and watching a bullet sail through her heart on camera really had us all going on undeniable.

"I can't believe it. How? What happened?"

"Those are very good questions and I will answer them as best I can, face to face," Cassie replied with emphasis on the last words. They were things we shouldn't discuss in a table-top store. Cassie smiled at her best friend's image and touched the screen where his cheek was, then pulled back with a little blush. Technology was still a bit new for her and I always forgot that. While she'd been darting in and out of Earth's realm for centuries, it hadn't been to get the newest Apple product and humans really amped up their game in the last few decades regarding every thing wireless. The Harbinger was left in the dust. Sometimes her inexperience showed in the cutest ways; like thinking she could actually touch Robin through the screen. "I missed you, Robbie."

"I'll be there soon," he assured her. "I'll take the next flight out, Cas. I'll even drag your uncle by his hair to get him away from those Neanderthals if I have to." He paused and ran his hands over his face, shooting a cautious glance behind him for the first time. "Just promise me you weren't with that vile excuse of a half human this whole time."

"I wasn't," she replied. After a second of consideration, where she turned to defer to me as I loomed behind her, Cassie pulled her hair back over her shoulder and tilted her body to show Robin the module. "As you can see."

"I see the inadequate job on your hair that was probably bestowed upon you by a box-cutter and an inept boyfriend." Goodfellow quipped, then shook his head and spoke softly in the same language he and Cassie had exchanged before. I didn't hold the critique of my salon quality hair cut against him; I already knew it looked like crap now that she had the time to wash it herself. She didn't complain though, not really. He was deflecting anyway; he knew what that hunk of metal meant just as we did the moment we saw it. "I'll be out there soon. You just watch your back." Robin pointed at me even though I'd thought I was off frame. "You keep her safe, Caliban. You hear me?"

I nodded; that went without saying, but if it made him feel better, whatever. Robin cast a lingering look in Cassie's direction, smiled for her, then closed the connection. Once his face disappeared from screen, Cassie slowly lowered the laptop closed with a soft frown on her full lips. Now that it was exposed and in clear view, I couldn't take my eyes off the module. It was so much more advanced than the triangular-shaped chips they'd previously drilled into her. There was a mesh sort of Teflon layering over her skin, holding the delicate metal pieces in place as well as allowing them to slide under one another for flexibility. Several tubes wove in and out of the matrix, including one leading right to the empty vial Niko had inspected when she arrived.

I ran my fingers over it and Cassie stilled to allow it, her head slightly bowed and tilted to the right so I could see gaps in the hardware where her raw scar tissue showed through. "Kind of a work of art all its own, isn't it?"

I grunted in response to her wistful comment, but didn't really agree. It was impressive, I'd give it that. "Nik, we need to find out how to get this off her. You do everything you can with the Vigil to find out how. Without a gate she's vulnerable to Grimm."

"Hey, now." Cassie spun around on the stool, smiling even if I knew she didn't appreciate that true fact. "Once I get my right hook back into practice. I think I can hold my own."

"Cas, I know Grimm—"

"So do I, personally," she countered. She corralled me between her knees with a few kicks and nudges, then grabbed up my shirt at my stomach. It was a playful, cute gesture, but it wouldn't win her this argument. "I'm all for unlocking my super powers, don't get me wrong, but I'm far from helpless. Those last few days with Grimm I was pretty coherent. And I know minds like his. You just have to endure some torture and wait for the right moment."

"I guess that moment never came, huh?"

Castiella lifted her eyebrows at my challenging reply. I saw a little gold trickling in around the inside of her iris' and knew, with that, I was starting to piss her off. "How do you think I ended up where we used to jog, Cal? You think Grimm decided it was a nice day for rape in the park?"

"But you can't gate," I argued. I remembered, vividly, that she still had the ability to manipulate another's gate. She's done it to me when I knew where to go but didn't have the oomph. "When you stretched my gate you used your own power. The shock collar would still hurt you."

"As I do when I shift gates. It hurts like a bitch with this shit in me. I nearly blackout, but I can do it." As I let this sink in, Niko placed a plate of eggs and high-stacked bacon in front of my lover. Fight averted for the moment, Cassie turned around from me and started digging in.

I settled down beside her, watching her. If she hadn't just recently come back from the dead on me, it might have looked a little disturbing. But part of me was still waiting for her to disappear. Like I'd startle myself awake with a particularly loud snore, with a half boner and an empty bed. It wouldn't have been the first time. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Niko kicked my bed right now and I woke with a start slowly realizing this was all an elaborate dream. That would make more sense than me being given the possibility of a millisecond of happiness. I brushed my fingers over the highlight of Cassie's cheekbone, collecting a loose tendril that curled around my knuckle as I tucked it behind her ear.

Her eyes slid to their sides, bacon between her fingers. My touch didn't stop her from finishing off the piece, but her lashes did lower a bit with an almost smile. "I'm not going anywhere, Cali." I leaned over and kissed her neck right where her jaw met. She chuckled, pulling her shoulder up when I tickled her. "What is with you? If you want some bacon, you just need to ask."

I snickered against her shoulder. The smell of the deliciously greasy food was tantalizing, but at the moment all I wanted was to feel her, right by me, right next to me. Her pulse in my ear, reminding me (dream or not) I had a millisecond or two of happiness. I hated it too, the sudden reliance on someone other than my brother. I'd gotten used to expecting Promise to be there, a steady presence; the flow of water both rushing and graceful as it wound around the pillar of calm that was my brother. And Robin, the court jester that we couldn't and didn't want to get rid of. A creature more useful than the hot air he constantly spewed.

I hadn't wanted those things. I hadn't wanted to feel love, not from anyone not for anyone. Not even for my brother, but that was an inevitable failure. Yet, here it was sitting beside a smirking angel with fire in her eyes handing me a piece of bacon.

I took the offering, obviously also a peace offering for the earlier argument. She nudged my arm and flitted her eyes over the island to tell me to look there. My brother was cleaning the skillet used for cooking, or he had been. In the moment I glanced up, Promise had coiled her arms around his waist at his side, pressing on her toes, just enough to catch his mouth. Their affection was more subtly shared behind closed doors, but every now and then they would indulge with an audience. Part of me wanted to vomit.

Cassie tilted her chin down to drop a kiss to my forehead, since my mouth was still pressed to her shoulder, then she pushed the plate between us. There were only a few pieces of bacon left, but I happily partook in them, while my brother and his vampire lover unwound from each other. Promise floated off for her mid-afternoon nap and Niko went back to scrubbing the dishes.

What the hell was happening to my life?

_Love and devotion… no, sickness and weakness, submission to petty things of no use. You are better than these sappy lines and pitiful caresses._

Hmm, and I thought we were in agreement over Cassie's arrival back to our arms. Apparently, Caliban still wanted her… oh, yeah, definitely wanted her, but not in that normal human being kind of way. That need was much more primal. She was our mate. She was, yes, our queen. So, I wondered, why her? Her use, even in the darkest corners of my mind, felt more than just to stave off sexual desires. If it was nothing more than sex it wouldn't have to be her. I wouldn't feel such an attachment to her and I didn't think it was just because she Claimed me previously. That connection was already severed when she died for a few second almost two years ago.

Why was devotion a weakness, yet that shadowed part of me still wanted desperately to bury deep inside her. Specifically, Cassie? Riddle me this, devil on my shoulder: A creature bathes in blood and rushes toward pain, yet sleeps peacefully beside its mate in the heat of danger and loathes half the emotions it reaches for. Where does it live? Deh-Nile.

"Hey," Cassie called, interrupting my thoughts and gazing at me like she knew where my head was. Which was impossible; other than mistakenly telling my brother I was hearing voices, no one knew about my little split personality. Cassie eyed me, her full lips creased into a frown. She grabbed my hand and slid off the barstool, taking me with her. "Come here."

I followed her into my bedroom, leaving Niko to clean up the rest of the kitchen, like he would have anyway. She guided me to the bed and sat me down on the edge, studying me with a tilted head as she stood over me. "What is it?"

"Huh?"

Her mahogany eyes rolled. "Don't play stupid. Something's changed. I feel it."

I sighed, not this again. She expected things to stay exactly as they were, which was more delusional than me waking up to believe all the Auphe were dead; even though I one point I actually thought that _and_ it wasn't a dream that made me think that. She had been gone for almost a year, I'd thought her dead. She'd thought me dead. The Vigil had lied to me and plugged a stun gun into her spine. Grimm had fucking raped her! There was no immediate bounce back from that. Especially with Grimm still out there, just waiting for me to drop my guard.

I got up from the bed and moved off to the closet to get out of my sleeping clothes. It was mid-afternoon, but with our restless night, Cassie and I had continued dozing in bed until noon and Niko had let us. Now I felt grimy and uncomfortable in the flannel pants and a three day old tee shirt. "Cassie, a lot has changed. I know I said I would try not to let it change what was between us, but it's a bit impossible—"

"Caliban." I heard that clearly even in my closet. She hadn't raised her voice, but that stern tone still carried. "That wasn't what I'm talking about. You're hiding something." I wasn't having this. Having Niko scold me was enough of an annoyance, I wasn't about to let my girlfriend undermine me too.

I grabbed a clean shirt and stalked back out ready to return to our fight. "What makes you think you can just come back and boss me around? Just because I shared some deep dark secrets with you before does not mean your privy to them now."

Her lower lip jutted it out, but it was in irritation, not to pout cutely. "Cal, I don't hold claim to your secrets, but if there is something going on. Something that you aren't willing to or can't share with Niko, you know I will listen."

I shook my head and stormed the rest of the way over to her. With my fingers clenched around my tee shirt and my bare skin crawling more for anger than the chilled room, I pointed a finger into her face and bared my teeth. It was a pitiful gesture, more of a cornered kitten hissing at a Great Dane. Not that size had anything to do with it; Cassie was a head shorter than me and could have easily taken me to the ground in that moment. She would always be stronger than me and not just through experienced. It took her the same amount of time to overcome five Bae bites as it took me to overcome one. That wasn't lost on me, but I couldn't deal with _one more person _ telling me there was something wrong with me.

"You do not know what I'm going through, Cassie. I know you think you understand everything, just like Robin, because you've both been through hell and seen the fucking Big Bang first hand, but that is bullshit when it comes to me. I'm not you. We are not that same."

Cassie shoulders rounded forward, her eyes dropped to the ground and she started walking away. Not out of the room, thankfully my girlfriend wasn't that much of a drama queen. She sat down on the bed and let off a long sigh. A sure sign that she was still incredibly tired from her escape; considering her eyes were wet when she looked up at me again she was also still emotionally distraught. It twisted a little knife inside me, I'd admit, but I didn't let it sway me into her arms. On my knees before her like some weak douchebag from a romantic comedy.

"If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to," Cassie said softly. She pulled her legs up on the bed, leaned over them. "But I know how lonely it can be inside your own head. Not trusting anyone to understand the darkness there. I'm not you. Your experiences are not mine and mine are not yours, but that doesn't mean I won't understand."

"Maybe you understand that I'm half-Auphe," I countered, giving in and telling her part of what was wrong with me. "But you will never understand what it is like to be half-human. One day, somewhere down the line, the Auphe is going to taint every cell in my body. One day all that will be left will be Auphe. Grimm knows this. I've seen it in the Bae. I've felt it in myself. You may see human in me now, but one day I'm going to be no different than the seething hybrids you didn't deem worthy enough to spare. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"What makes you think that? When you see me, several millennia old and just as Auphe as I was before?"

"You're peri," I snapped. Frustration had it come out as a growl. "Humans are weaker than peris. Younger and feeble in comparison. My cells are being eaten alive one by one by the Auphe."

Cassie shook her head, never was a gesture so frustrating. "I don't believe that."

"In that case, it must be completely normal for me to keep feeling the darkness stir inside, forming its own voice and telling me to do the things an Auphe would?" I snarled. Cassie eyes lifted to fix on mine as I approached the bed. I leaned down, bracing my hands to the mattress, still holding onto my shirt as I loomed over her. "It wants me to let go. It wants me to give in to the Auphe."

"And how is that any different than before? When someone pushes you on the subway, you want to deck them in the face," she gave a little shrug. "We have a bad attitude, that is just part of who we are. The difference lies in if we kill them after we punch them in the face. That is where we decided if we want to be a monster or not." It didn't feel like a decision. It felt more like opening a flood gate and praying I could close it again.

"You make that decision, Cal." She shifted onto her knees, inches away from my face. "You live with a human. No Auphe would submit to that, let alone confer to him. I know how much you love Niko, but if you were really Auphe a blood tie would make no difference."

"And one day it might not."

Cassie shook her head again. Confidence apparent in a soft smile. "No, that day will never come. But you really shouldn't be hearing a physical voice, we might have to work through that."

"It's not a voice, not really. It's a feeling, a thought, but a strong one."

"Your fear is feeding it, Cali," Cassie told me. I pulled back from the bed with a irritated grunt and shook out my shirt to get the wrinkles my grip had created. "Don't dismiss it. You're suppressing too much because you're scared to let it loose, but it is a part of you. Don't undermine your brother by thinking he can't handle it or can't love it and don't undermine me with the same. I know what you are, Cal. Both of us know what you are and we love you all the same."

The sad part was that I wanted to believe her. More than anything I wanted her to be right, for Niko to be right. That all of this was just a result of me suppressing memories and stressing out. That I'd snowballed my anxieties and they became something greater if only through the magic of my fear-idled brain.

"You seem different, I'll give you that." She said it slowly, with a curious tilt of her head. I paused in pulling on the tee shirt when her pale hand stopped the motion. The touch fell against my wrist gently, but I knew its request, so I waited. Cassie crawled up onto her knees, drawing her body up so her eyes were almost level with mine. She was a petite, slender thing so when she was standing I could easily wrap her up in my arms and rest my chin on the crown of her head, but the bed gave a little extra height.

Her fingers slid from my wrist to dance over my chest. It was exploratory not sensual, though the sensation did awaken a few nerve endings that seemed to be directly connected to the unruly area below the belt that didn't seem to care that we had been fighting a second ago. Cassie was tracing the scars I'd accumulated while she was gone. My chest was amass with them now. Bite marks, claw rents, knife slashes. Most of them faded in time, but there were a few I was stuck with. Sawney Beane's generous bite and a pair of puncture wounds side by side. One from Niko's blade to my Darkling possessed body and the other from the rebar from the warehouse fire. Those remained, along with a few I picked up from Grimm and Janus along the way. Like the scabbed one on my face that her fingertips grazed ever so lightly.

Her mahogany eyes were hooded. Wispy pieces of her autumn-colored hair had fallen out of the quick bun she made so she could eat, curving around her round face in wavy tendrils. With her pale skin, effervescently innocent features, and the currently baleful expression she wore…it almost made me believe in angels, or at least I understood why the peris earned the name. I lifted her chin, unable to control myself despite the fact that we had been in the middle of an argument. I could never define the feelings I had for her. Rarely tried, but I knew I needed her too. I could survive without her, but I didn't want to. And _that_ was a very un-Auphe thought. Point to her case, I guessed.

_Because she is the dark light that lifts the shadows within. She kisses the monster and calls him as her own. She is as much death as you are. She is our queen._

True, true, all true. And that was why I loved her. That was why I wanted her. In that glorious instant, without words, without thinking, I wanted her. I took her mouth, pulling her against me. Her hands skated over my shoulders to tangling in my loose dark hair. Our mouths connected with the oddest force. I imagined teeth clicking and bruises forming with the intensity I felt as I clutched her, but it was more of a melding. Every action was reacted to, reciprocated in perfect time. Like a dance. There were no words exchanged save for a whispered moan or a caught breath. Our bodies lowered to the bed together. The barriers, our clothes, were stripped away with barely seconds of separation between our skin, our mouths.

God damn, this was intense. I didn't think about anything but her; not the great debate in my head, not her inability to believe what I was trying to tell her moments before. Just her. Just that overwhelming need to have her. Her flesh burned against mine. Our door was wide open and her breath cried pleasure against my ear all the same. The bed shook with our efforts. The sheets dampened as we couldn't stop even after completing the first ride, then the second. Her muscles tensed beneath me, stronger than the day before, strong enough that I knew she could tear me apart if her fire burned too brightly. I knew she wouldn't. I knew. This was only for me. Her body, the way she moved, synched to me, molded to me. She was mine. Whether that would always be the case remained to be see, but in that moment she was mine.

I had no idea how long it took before we were sated. Long enough that I already knew my muscles would be aching in the morning. I rolled onto my side, my arms still so tightly wound around her that the motion pulled Cassie with me. I would have tucked her under my arm and I sprawled on my back, but there were new sets of thin, sluggishly bleeding wounds all along my shoulder blades now and the salty sweat on the sheets would only make them sting more. She even controlled herself creating those…they were from her peri nails, not her Auphe claws. But that passion had been the same; maybe she was trying to prove a point with that.

Cassie moaned out a string of syllables that obviously created a sentence in another language, it sounded pretty even in her wearily state. She smirked against my shoulder in the same blissfully tired manner, her dark eyes upturned as I tilted my chin down to kiss her forehead. "That was long overdue, Caliban Leandros. I was losing patience."

I chuckled lightly, grazing my nose across her frizzed hair. "Sorry, I took so long."

"You're forgiven." She pushed on my chest to lift herself a little, dotting a kiss to my nose. "Am I?"

My lips tugged at muscles to smile, I brushed my fingers over her cheek like I had in the kitchen. "I know you meant what you said. We'll just agree to disagree until one of us is proven wrong."

Cassie nodded in acceptance where most would press the issue and then resituated to lie belly down on the bed next to me. Our scents were heady in the room right now and I hadn't forgotten that the door was still wide open, but I really only had the energy to wrestle with a blanket to get us covered. I drifted my fingers over her pale shoulder, noticing how my fingers tripped over scar tissue that was barely visible on the surface. She'd had her own trials and tribulations, many more than me. Yet, she could still smile so it reached those sweet round eyes, gazing at me like I was the anchor and not the freighter veering off course every other day. Maybe that was her point. Maybe that was what happened when I accepted the Auphe inside, that little bit of 'I don't give a fuck' Aupheness that made the horrors a little less horrible. Then again, she had admitted herself that she'd lost to the Auphe when Dante was killed and I was thought dead. It was still inside her, just as it was me, but maybe…there was some merit to my newfound control.

"You are different, Cal," she whispered as I brushed my lips over the cap of her shoulder. "Whether for better or worse is relative. By definition, it's neither. And I saw it before too. With Dante, in the warehouse…you took control in there. If you hadn't been hurt things would have been much different."

"What do you mean?"

"You were grounding me. Losing Dante…losing my son, I'd broken that balance I had practiced for so long. And you held me and it came back, for a moment." Cassie closed her eyes at the memories. I didn't bother; they would just flood the backs of my eyelids anyway. She buried her nose in one of our pillows –I didn't know if it was hers or mine anymore. Not that it mattered our scents had combined into something that would probably make even a greater creature piss themselves. Shadows thick in the air, the tang of sex, the sting of blood and danger, with that alluring, teasing smell of flora.

"I have control," I offered, trying to pull her back from the fire and death in her mind. I knew what she was saying now. If I hadn't managed to freefall into that rebar and nearly die right in front of her we might have made it out of there together. Scratch that, we _would_ have made it out together. She wouldn't have had the damned module implanted in her spine again and the first time Grimm would have met her would have been his immediate last. She would have given him no mercy. She had killed monsters like him (and me for that matter) many times over. She would know what Grimm was. He would have no prayer in facing her, especially with me at her side. And maybe I would have been spared my inner demon taking a class in public speaking. It might have been different, but it wasn't. As she said, we would have to work through that.

"I guess I gained it when I regained my memories, but hadn't really explored it much before you were, well, shot down by the Vigil. It was necessary for me to practice it then, otherwise would I have followed the same path and I couldn't do that to Niko."

She smiled that sweet contented smile again. She could have said a lot there. Could have rubbed it in my face that I was controlling myself and making 'human' decisions for my human brother, like no Auphe would, but all she said was, "I'm glad."

"You shouldn't be," I muttered. I lifted my hand to drag my fingers through her mussed hair. I tried to flatten it, but since it was still somewhat pulled back it was impossible. Cassie seemed to appreciate the attention though, so I kept up the lulling patterns against her scalp. "I tried to forget you, Cassie."

She made a soft humming sound. "Did you manage to?"

"Almost."

"I'm glad." My brow knotted at her reply. She pulled my hand from her hair and kissed my knuckles. "You do what you have to do to survive, Cal. I don't care what that is. That is the only thing I ask of you…that and you have to have sex with me at least once a week now."

I laughed. "Just once a week?"

"_At least_ once a week. There is no maximum on that, just so you know."

"You only want me for my body."

Cassie grinned and pulled closer to me. She pressed her lips to my shoulder like I had hers, but she also gave it a little nip. "I want you for your soul, because without yours I feel as if I have none." And in those few words she managed to verbalize exactly how I felt about her in a way I never could even in my own head. I craned my neck to touch my mouth to hers. The kiss lured our bodies into joining again, despite our fatigue.

One of us would be proven wrong one day. One day I would become Auphe or my suspicions would prove to be all in my head. Hope had me wishing to eat my words today, but experience had me believe that Castiella would end up killing that soul she treasured so much with a knife through my Auphe heart. To be honest, I wanted it to be her, not Niko. It was cruel to wish that task upon a being that had already been through so much, but at least with her…I knew it would get done well before her last breath, not as she was drawing it.

When we finally gathered the strength to leave my bedroom, Niko and Promise were gone to their meeting with the Vigil, but he did leave a note for us: _Gone to Sam's Diner for the meet. Close your damned door next time. –Niko_

I had to smile at that and it grew exponentially when Cassie, wrapped only in a sheet from the bed, tucked herself against my side. Milliseconds of happiness, right? Whatever happened, whoever was wrong or right, I still had those.


	19. Chapter 12 - Cal

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

**CAL**

I was watching my second episode of generic TV sitcoms, contemplating what Cassie had said, thinking about what Niko stubbornly believed and noticing – not for the first time – how similar they thought, when the front door to my side of the apartment flew open. I'd also been in live-wire mode, anticipating Grimm to attack while Cassie napped and I was alone, but I more than expected that entrance to be a gate followed by a – less expected – evil laugh.

Second instantaneous thought was that something went wrong with the Vigil meet and Niko was busting in to tell us we needed to pack up and get the hell out before they stole her away from my again. Both fears were quelled when I saw the handsome face of our favorite puck looking more haggard than I had ever seen him, save for a couple of times he'd been wounded in our misadventures. I was already standing by the couch, but when I realized there was no danger from the intruder, I motioned with a nod to my bedroom. "Don't wake her."

He was in my room quicker than a fleeting shadow and just as silent. His presence might have been enough to jar her awake, but there was nothing to be done about that. I didn't hear her voice, or anything else, coming from the room, until Robin slipped back out and moved to shut the door.

"Don't," I told him. I didn't want any barrier between Cassie and me even if I probably wouldn't bother with a door if Grimm showed up.

Goodfellow left the door cracked and turned to me. There was no blond peri at his heels which meant Ishiah was detained. That irked me a little. Ish was the only blood family Cassie had and he chose those righteous feathered bastards over her? Well, guess who wasn't going to show up on time for work anymore; not that I did very often anyway.

"Tell me what happened," Robin demanded. Usually, I would bristle at a tone like that, but I knew where the puck's rage actually lied and it was deserved.

"We found her in the park," I explained. Nice thing about retelling this to Goodfellow without my brother around was that I could be as enraged and use as many expletives as I wanted and Robin wouldn't bat an eye. He'd heard worse and heard it all. "Five Bae were fucking holding her down and Grimm was on top of her. I didn't need bad porn music to know what he was doing to her. And he'd had her for a few months so we all know he was…fuck." Okay, so some sentences I couldn't finish even with vulgarity.

Robin ran his hands over his face. There were bags under his eyes; I'd never seen that before. "You were able to catch him unawares, but not kill him."

It was neither a statement nor a question, but I answered. "Yeah."

"And before Grimm? The Vigil?"

I nodded and watched Goodfellow's jaw tense and his body wind up in a second. He grabbed the closest thing he could find – a lamp on the table by my room – and made to throw it. He kept it in hand; maybe remembering Cas was sleeping at my cringe. He replaced it upright on the table with a shaking hand and took in a long breath. "How did I not see this? The video removed instead of claiming it a hoax, the sniper conveniently waiting at the last Kin location in lower Manhattan, the ashes…the over-appeasement. It all reeked of conspiracy and I still bought it."

"Nobody's perfect, Loman. Not even a puck."

He shook his head again. "Once we deal with Grimm, I assure you, those manipulative maggots are next on my short list of those who will cease existence by my hand."

"I'm right there with you."

Robin's gaze drifted back toward the bedroom. I could tell he wanted to go back in to watch over her, but he refrained. I'd already been exiled to the living room; Castiella didn't appreciate being watching so carefully, especially as she slept.

"Where is your brother?"

"He went with Promise to chat with the maggots. We decided it would be more productive if I didn't join." A massacre wouldn't be too subtle; they would figure out that I knew what they'd done pretty quickly if I redecorated Sam's Diner with their life and limb. Besides the fact that we didn't want Cassie anywhere near them and she needed some form of gated protection since her ability was lost. Goodfellow was intelligent enough to process this as well as why we decided to meet with them in the first place, without me explaining. But there was something that I needed explained. "Where's Ishiah?"

Robin made a face I'd never seen before; his mouth thinned out and creased at the corners, while his nose wrinkled around flared nostrils. He pivoted from me as if to disengage from the conversation and head into the kitchen, straight for the cabinet over the fridge where the only lick of alcohol we harbored lived. It was for him anyway, a bottle of Hennessy that he stored with us for celebration or occasions such as this. He didn't bother with finding a tumbler, opting for a normal juice glass and filling it more than half-way.

"Ishiah believed his presence and skill would be more conducive if applied to the peris' efforts in collecting their lost kin." He paused to take a hearty swig as I approached the island and leaned against the surface across from him. "If I may say verbatim: 'Castiella would agree that – as she is safe under the protection of you, Promise, and the brothers – my efforts are best focused on the peris' mission. The peris are still her brethren and she would wish for me to spare them from Grimm's torture as she is now free from it.' And as much as I disagree, my delectable yet stubbornly self-martyring lover is in all likelihood correct in that assumption."

His tone was surly and bitter and I shared the sentiment. The peris ridiculed, shunned, and would have happily watched her die twenty times over. They deserved no pity or compassion from Cassie. The few exceptions resided in the Ninth Circle and they – plus Ishiah – were the only peris I would consider sticking my neck out for. Sadly, Cassie really though as Ish did, the bleeding heart. She would agree with her uncle in a heart beat, stout-heartedly claiming the lives of dozens of peris were more essential than her own... if they weren't pointedly trying to kill her, that was. Not in my book. What they did to her outweighed her misdeeds from thousands of years ago. They were no better than the Auphe when it came to 'family'. But that was Ishiah's prerogative and, if Cassie did accept it, I would just have to be less direct with my disapproval.

"How is she?" Robin asked softly.

I gave a shrug. "Better than any of us in her situation." There were things about her disposition that bothered me though. She'd always been rather lackadaisical about the horrible things she'd gone through; it didn't seem healthy on some level. Where I raged she smiled and rolled with it. We didn't do in depth discussion well either. Most of the time we ended up ripping off each other's clothes like we had that afternoon instead of talking things out. That might have been more my inability of expression, but she certainly encouraged the digression every time. But right now, I was standing beside the man…creature who knew her better than any.

"Does it really not bother her?" I indulged the question, not sure how far I wished to press this since I knew I wouldn't like the answer. Robin had finished off half his glass, but he needed the whole bottle before he would show the slightest sign of intoxication.

"She hides it well, doesn't she?" Robin said with a smirk. Not his usual one; this smile was subdued, well on its way to being saddened. "Well enough that sometimes I don't even know what truly bothers her and what she denies, but you have to ask yourself: what kind of being wouldn't be bothered by what Grimm has done? She's experienced rape before, but that doesn't make the after any easier, does it?"

The quick click of the latch on my front door drew both our attention there. Unbeknownst to us my ninja brother and his lady of the night had managed to slip inside and the sound had been Niko locking the door. He gave me a reprimanding grimace as the two of them approached the kitchen alcove. It wasn't my fault that Robin hadn't locked the door behind him, but that wasn't big brother's point either. I should have noticed them come in; Niko had stayed in my peripheral vision as a test, which I failed. I was still expecting a gate attack, not Grimm strolling (or busting) through the front door.

_Never expect. Draw the first blood, not the final breath_.

Great, now my inner self was quoting Cassie…kinda.

Niko nodded in greeting to Robin, but his immediate focus was me, per usual. "Where's Castiella?"

"Sleeping," I replied, a little more than annoyed by his question. As if I would let her wander beyond my perception. I could smell her from here; her scent was the olfactory equivalent to a trail of glow stick paint in a darkened alley. I could feel her too. Not in the same way I felt an Auphe near, but similar enough to compare. "What did you find out from the Vigil cronies?"

Niko handed a small grocery bag to Promise and I watched her take it into my bedroom with no more than a muted smile in my direction. The items were invisible within the opaque bag and the boxy shapes were only discernable enough to be anything from bandages to bullets.

"What's in the bags?" Niko had one too. The plastic wadded up in his hand enough that his purchase was a much smaller item. And this one was probably for me. Unless the other _was_ bullets; Cassie didn't bother with bullets.

"The Vigil was rather forthcoming with their information," Niko said, ignoring my second question for now. He set the box in his bag on the counter, but didn't let go and didn't offer it to me. "We were able to 'find out' their secret without them catching on that we had Castiella here, but we didn't have to pry much. They clearly realized their secrecy, once divulged, would eliminate any truce between us and they planned accordingly. They were cordial and cooperative, giving me as much information as I asked for in detail."

"They _told_ you they had Cassie? They just came clean?" That seemed like a trap. I assumed they would talk circles around their involvement. I assumed they wouldn't even speak of her.

"At first, they presented it as a request to help them retrieve some 'stolen property'. As Promise and I pressed for more information, we were able to 'catch on' that it was really Cassie they were searching for and we were able to 'conclude' that it was Grimm that took her." He wasn't using air quotes, but with his tone he might as well have been. I was thankful I wasn't there to screw this mission up, subtly was not a strong suit of mine. Niko released the bag, but stared at it for a moment before, pealing back the wrinkled plastic with idle hands. I didn't like it. He was hesitating on revealing what was within and that mean, without a doubt, I wouldn't like my present.

"Cal, the Vigil is still asking for our help; with the understanding that if we find her they will not get their Harbinger back without using force. That is just how important it is for Cassie to be out of Grimm's reach, for them as well. I'm not going to get into the experiments they conducted on her, but I assure you what they have told me has destroyed any possibility of further affiliation with them."

"What is with the fucking big words, Cyrano?"

Niko hadn't looked up from the bag; he fished out my convenience store present and placed it next to my hand braced to the island. My gaze trailed down and my brow wrinkled in that moment of idiotic confusion before the rage started growing. Robin cursed under his breath and went for another juice glass. This one he filled just a thumb's width and placed right next to the box of condoms my brother had brought me. I didn't have any major aversion toward the contraceptive, but more the reason I would need it with Cassie and what that _truly_ meant. They were screwing around with her reproduction system again, I wasn't sure I even wanted to know to what extent. Before they had been breeding us, trying to make a weapon indentured to them. Without me there, I didn't want to know what they were up to. I _didn't_ want to know.

"Just to be safe, I think—" I held up my hand to cut Niko off, grabbed for the drink Goodfellow had poured me and slammed it.

"You don't have to explain, big bro. I get it." I shoved the condoms back toward him and tapped my glass to signal the puck I wanted more. Robin obliged without a word. His glass was nearly full this time. "See the problem is that I'm not the only one that's had sex with her."

Niko's gray eyes fixed on mine and he nodded. "That is a major concern."

"What was in the other bag?" I asked as it dawned on me what _could _be in the second bag. I pointed a finger toward my room with a sharp gesture, leaning forward to hiss at my brother. A little of my fury trickling toward him. "Did you just have Promise go in there and wake her up to take a pregnancy test?"

"We have to be sure, Cal." I had to resist the urge to deck him; he would have dodged anyway. I didn't understand why that made me so pissed off, but it just seemed horribly wrong of him to do that. Not after what she'd been through.

I abandoned my drink, my brother, and a buzzed puck and stormed into my room, ready to shove Promise out. The vampire was sitting beside Castiella on the bed, cupping one of my girlfriend's hands in both of her own. Except for a slightly pink tint Cassie was nearly the same paleness as Promise. The vampire lifted her lavender eyes when I walked in. Cassie didn't.

"Get out."

"Caliban."

"Get the hell out of our room, Promise."

She hesitated only for a second, then unwound her hands from Cassie's and lifted from the bed in a graceful motion. I didn't bother following her transition out of the room, but she was courteous enough to close the door behind her. The bedside lamp was on, as was the bathroom light. The combination cast Castiella in a strange ambient hue that made her conflicted expression all the darker. She gave me a meek smile. "Should have seen this coming, huh?"

Her tone was light, not even a tremor betrayed her strength. I couldn't bring myself to even take the few steps that would bring me to her. "Cassie…"

"Nope, no discussion about it for another minute. No use in getting into it if it's negative."

I nodded; there was no other response to that that seemed appropriate. I forced my legs to work again and eased down next to her on the bed. She was still lethargic, I could tell and being woken up to this news couldn't have helped at all. "What did she say?"

"She didn't have to say anything. We knew the Vigil's intention with me from our previous visit to their immaculate facilities. It isn't hard to grasp the notion that they would attempt the same experiments." She sighed and stretched her arms out in front of her before dropped them to her lap. Her shoulders were rounded, the skin of her arms pale and exposed in the tank top she stole from the back of Promise's closet. She looked so delicate in comparison to the fiery creature I'd met two years ago.

"Cassie—"

"Twenty more seconds," she warned, waited ten then said, "I love you, Cal."

I didn't know what to say. I loved her and, positive or negative, that wouldn't change, but she knew that. She knew that my feelings for her wouldn't change whether Grimm succeeded or not. I didn't know what to say, but I knew what she wanted to hear. Reassurance of the obvious. "I love you, Cas."

She stared at my bedside clock for a little bit; there were three plastic wands lined up on rumpled tissues next to its glaring red digits.

"You took the tests." Not a question, but it sounded like one. I wasn't sure why that concept baffled me. Why she would agree to the request, silent or spoken, without any pause or hesitation. Woken from a dead sleep and shoved a box in her face, someone telling her to piss on this to find out if she was fucked over on top of being fucked. I would have caused a bit of a ruckus in her position, but where she would never understand my human part I would never be able to comprehend the trials of her gender. Maybe it was the peri half that kept her so calm.

"I had to pee anyway. I had to pee a lot too, so it was convenient enough." She pressed her chin to her shoulder to look over at me. Another weak smile tugged at her full lips. "Ready?"

I nodded, lying through my teeth. "For anything."

Cassie stood up from the bed and leaned over the assembled wands. My leg muscles felt knotted up, not that looking over her shoulder would have been my choice option. I waited for her to analyze it. Searched her face for some reveal of which it was. She took in a deep breath as she stood straight, worrying her lower lip. "Well…I suppose with have something to discuss now."

"Fuck, it's positive?" I breathed out. It was hitting home now and that wasn't helping my feeble control over my rage. I stood up and glanced down at the tests. I couldn't really make heads or tails of the plus symbols or the blue lines, but I took her word for it.

"All three," Cassie replied. She was pregnant. Again. Grimm got what he wanted.

_A child of his likeness, just what he wanted. Just what he should never possess. That pitiful excuse of an Auphe. That heinous replacement of a worthy adversary. He should never be given the power to create life, when his only aspect of value is his death._

"Hey," she called softly, trying to pull me back from my blood-soaked thoughts. Her hands pressed to my chest ever so lightly, a little hint of pressure to solidify the ground beneath my feet. "Listen, we don't know for sure it's his."

"How do we not?" I snapped, then checked myself. I turned away from Cassie, only to release some of my boiling anger in the form of a fist to dry air. She didn't deserve this. None of it, least of all my displaced fury. "Who else could it be? I don't know much about pregnancy, but I know it takes more than a few hours for these things to work, so it isn't mine."

"The Vigil were inseminating me in place of a more natural option," Cassie explained. When I gave her a dubious glare she continued. "Promise told me. Or rather, the Vigil informed Promise and Niko of this during the meeting. They were monitoring me closely, Cal. I can even attest to that. I was a fragile doll to them, a glorified incubator, but prized nonetheless. Without you, and they obviously wouldn't chance involving you again, they needed another means to impregnate me."

"With what?" Cassie's eyebrows pulled in and her eyes flickered to the side like someone unsure of how to tell another they were an idiot asking stupid questions. "With who, then!" I snarled. I knew _what _they used to inseminate her, I didn't lack that much education, but my concern was what concoction they were attempting to make. Especially when one considered the myriad of specimens they had at their disposal.

"With you," Castiella replied after a pause that was much too lengthy for my nerves. "They froze your sperm when we were taken the first time, apparently with merited anticipation that they would possess me again. Either that or they planned to use it for something else down the road."

That was a disturbing thought. I wouldn't put it passed the half-cocked human organization to try and create their _own_ army of hybrid Auphe. "So it's his or mine?"

"If the Vigil are to be believed," Cassie agreed. That changed a lot actually. It shouldn't have, but it did. I could have another child with Cassie, which was something I had told Grimm was impossible. The Vigil weren't to be believed, but I couldn't really bring myself to discount this. Their intentions were clear the first go-round. The dick-head government lab rats wanted us to pop out a half Auphe they could use for their own devices. At the time only Cassie and I could achieve that and with the trouble with Cassie's peri clan going on – the murder of Cassie's peri clan – the Vigil had the perfect cover and timing. Cassie was threatening the peris and it was the Vigil's job to harness her. They could have even gone as far as to claim they were protecting the citizens of New York by locking her away in their facilities just as they tried to claim when they shot her down later on. Not that we ever asked for an explanation.

It came down to an opportune moment and they grasped it in their meat hooks. Twice. I have been unconscious long enough in that cell to leave them plenty of time to steal blood, semen, a fucking limb from me. It was plausible. Well, not the limb part. I didn't trust the Vigil and I certainly believed that they left a few encyclopedias worth of information conveniently forgotten on the desk at the office more than I believed what they did bring to the table, but given was all we had to go on.

The Vigil sought us out, specifically to find Castiella, even with the knowledge that we would _never_ forfeit her to them while any of us breathed. They told us she could be pregnant, she could get pregnant. Why? "If the Vigil's end game is a half Auphe child at their disposal, what difference would it make him or me fathering it?"

I'd been silent for a very long time and by the affronted expression that washed over Castiella's face that wasn't what she had wanted to hear. Her mouth parted, but only worked through slight motions. I watched it, briefly distracted by those lips, then shook myself and pressed on with my previous train of thought.

"The Vigil wanted you with me over Grimm, but why? And why would they even tell me you had the ability to get pregnant? If you weren't already that would just give me the option to be safe and completely screw up their plan. Unless they think they can control me better than Grimm." Cassie's full lips pulled tight like she was about to be sick. I was obviously striking out here, but she was giving me nothing to go on. "Cas?"

"This is not the discussion I want to have right now." It was the first time I'd heard her voice tremble with raw emotion since she woke up. I shut my mouth and waited for her to steer me in the desired direction. My inability to figure it out myself just made her stare incredulously at me. After an awkward minute, she shoved me back enough that she could slip by me and head for the door.

"Cas, where are you going?"

"If you want to discuss motive you might as well do so with your brother. When you want to discuss whether or not I should _have_ this child you come back to me." She opened the door and motioned me out. I could see the trio of inquisitive faces waiting in the kitchen, but I was more focused on my own stupidity.

"Shit," I hissed. I stalked over to the door and closed it, leaving my hand there while I watched her arms coil around her stomach. I was so busy thinking about the Vigil and what their actions meant that I didn't even think about that fact that Cassie was about to go through another very tumultuous pregnancy. She was probably scared shitless underneath that practiced calm. Which wasn't so solid a front anymore. She was holding in tears. I could see that now. Her body was wound up like someone about to jump out a plane for the first time and she was on the brink of screaming.

But what did she want me to say? This kid, whether it was mine or Grimm's, was coming out of her. What gave me any right or say in whether she kept it or not? It was her body, her choice, I didn't understand what—

"I don't want to do this alone again, Cal." Her voice cut into my inner ramblings again, but this time it wasn't light-hearted. A tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away before the light could catch it. "But I don't have the right to ask you to raise a child not your own. Even if it is yours you didn't even…" She took in a long breath through her nose and turned away from me to scrub at her eyes.

I grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around. I didn't even bother saying anything since I was batting zero with words, so I just wrapped her up in my arms and buried my nose into her hair as I thought and she cried. We had the option to abort and she was entertaining that option this time, but somehow that thought had never even crossed mine. I wasn't a pro-life activist and had certainly no religion to speak of, but the thought of flushing it down the toilet like a dead goldfish no matter how few cells it was at this point just didn't sit well.

_A child in your likeness._ No, I didn't want to believe it was some ego-maniacal desire to best Grimm at his own game that erased the thought of termination from my mind. It was deeper than that, more 'human' than that. It was family. My family. It was the same as before, nothing had changed. The baby yet to be born was no less deserving of a chance as Dante was. This precgancy wasn't my choice, this wasn't Cassie's choice. This choice was made for us, but that didn't mean we couldn't start making our own now.

I pulled back from Castiella, holding her at her shoulder so I could catch her eye, then lifting my hands to her damp cheeks. "I'm sorry I fouled that up, Cassie. I wasn't thinking about what you'd wanted me to, because I didn't even consider that an option." Her mahogany eyes flickered up to meet mine in surprise. "And it may or may not be mine, but either way its going to need a father and sadly I'm the better option…mostly because I have my brother as back up."

In true fashion when it came to our relationship, one second we were arguing and tearing up and in the next she was stealing my breath with her mouth ravaging mine. I clutched her too me, tasting her scent and the salt of her tears in an interesting mix. It was good and I wanted more, I had to admit. Her passionate assault just had me wanting to lift her and take her to the bed. Not like I could do anymore damage than was already done, right?

Cassie seemed to agree judging by the way my shirt was torn off and tossed over her shoulder. She tried to talk between fervent kisses and little nips to flesh as we worked on exposing more and more. "You want me to have the baby?"

"I guess I want a chance to redeem my previous failures in fatherhood," I murmured against the pulse in her throat. Cassie chuckled softly enough that I only felt it under my lips.

"You were a good father, Cal. Dante loved you." I started to trail my mouth down her collar bone, following the scars that led to her left breast with the full intention of devouring it when I got there. Cassie stopped me, pulling me up by my jaw before I lowered to my knees. "Are you sure about this?"

"Are you?"

"I wasn't," she admitted. I still wasn't, but I decided not to divulge that. If she was confident with our decision that was enough for me. I hooked my arm under her butt and hoisted her up off the ground. She smile and eagerly helped me tug her borrowed pants off her body once I got her on the bed. "Should we be doing this right now?"

"Nope," I answered. Did I care? Nope. I kicked off my own pants and crawled over my gorgeous lover. I could see the little swell in her stomach now, so minute since she was half-starved for two months and probably not that far along. I dusted a few kisses over it with the intention of traveling south, but the little gasp she emitted sounded more alarmed than aroused. I lifted my head and stared up at her. She was biting her lip, trying not to reveal something she didn't want me to see. "Is this all right, Cas? I don't want to push you…"

She laughed before I even finished the sentence. "Are you kidding me? Caliban, I'm hornier pregnant than I am normally. It was hell without you last time."

I took a moment to process that and I wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing, if I considered what she'd told me before about her desires. "You're going to suck the life out of me, aren't you?"

"Lie down and I will," she countered with that mischievous glint in her eyes. Well, I couldn't say no to pregnant lady, now could I?


	20. Chapter 13 - Cal

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

**CAL**

Family dinner. Probably a concept that hadn't really defined itself in my head until recently. When we were kids 'dinner' consisted of whatever we could scrounge up or beg for, like street urchins we stole what we could and made do with what we had. It wasn't like Niko could whip up an omelet at age eight. Eh, well, maybe he did; I was only four at the time – before Tumulus lessened the age gape between us – so I didn't remember one way or another. I remember crackers and ketchup, stale bagels obtained from a bakery down in town when it was nice enough to walk there (pretty sure that old man thought we were feeding pigeons or something). I remembered dented cans of soup that tasted no different than un-dented and how Niko had to smother celery in peanut butter to get me to even touch the stuff.

We rarely ate together. I had no idea _when_ Niko ate until I was old enough to hold a fork in one hand and a gun in the other, then he ate with me. It wasn't routine. It wasn't tradition. It needed to be.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea for us to gather around a round table eating dim sum in the heart of Manhattan. The Vigil had their eyes pealed and ears perked in search of Cassie, the Auphe had been poking around me just a few days ago, and Grimm certainly wasn't through stalking us, but, you know, fuck all that, we were hungry.

And we were laughing, flirting, enjoying life. It was a miracle! And it was weird, but I reveled in it all the same. Cassie had unwound once we were out of the house, actually she was pretty relaxed after we had sex, but rejoining the group that had migrated to Niko and Promise's side of the penthouse tensed her up again. But after a quick confession of 'we're pregnant' and a retelling of our decision, Robin raised a glass to us (pretty sure with the last of his Hennessy) and decided we were off to dinner out.

Here, it seemed, all problems were cast out – not ignored, mind you. Niko and I could never be anywhere without being a little sketchy about our surroundings, but at least we took moments to listen to the stories being told (even Promise shared a few) and have a few chuckles. And eat, of course, eat.

"Stop it," Cassie chided me. She was laughing, but the slap of her chopsticks to my wrist stung a little.

"Ow, I'm trying to be gentlemanly," I complained, dropping the shrimp dumpling I was serving her onto my own plate.

"You're making silent commentary on my weight and I'm getting it from both sides." With that comment she smacked Robin with the back of her hand. He slyly rerouted the bowl of beef and things better left uncategorized to Promise, looking at Cassie as if she were just crazy and he hadn't been planning on filling her plate too. He was in a better mood now that he could spend time with Cassie without me stealing her away, plus she'd instantly helped him smoothing things over with Ishiah by calling her uncle up and saying pretty much exactly what all of us thought she would. She wanted Ishiah to help the peris; they needed him, blah, blah bleeding heart.

At the moment she was well on her way in making Robin's hand bleed the way she stabbed at it when he managed to knock a few strips of vegetable and beef onto her plate. "I need to put on a few pounds, I get it, but it's not going to happen tonight."

"Not if you keep working it all off with Cal," Goodfellow teased. He even wiggled his eyebrows. I smirked and refrained from claiming he had a point. I hadn't even noticed the puck reloading her plate as I had been. But it made sense, lover and best friend both concerned with the mistreatment she'd received with Grimm, especially with her confirmed condition. I didn't know much about pregnancy, but I knew, if it was mine, Cas could have been more than two months along and didn't look pregnant at all. Maybe that was normal, but being able to see the outline of every rib was not.

"I'm just surprised you are able to eat indiscriminately," Promise chimed in. "Not to imply anything, but I recall when I was pregnant with Cherish I couldn't go near fish for the first trimester. The smell just caused me to gag. Same with peanut butter and, oddly, rice."

Cassie grinned. "Well, you'll probably hate me through this whole thing then. I don't get sick, I don't cramp, I can eat whatever I want and the only weird craving I get is for raw meat, which rare meat satisfies. Blame it on the Auphe, blame it on the fact that I shouldn't even be renting space in there without the proper hormones, but it is what it is."

"Could that be an issue?" Niko's voice cut into the light-hearted conversation with fatherly concern. Part of me wanted to kick him for ruining the mood, but whatever he was about to say probably needed to be addressed. If it wasn't facts about the monster of the week he didn't often speak just to hear his voice. "If you aren't getting the regimented doses of hormones from the Vigil could that complicate the pregnancy?"

"Didn't last time," Cassie replied casually and sipped at her tea, before snagging the shrimp dumpling I'd originally tried to give her from my plate. I smiled, but said nothing. "I'm pretty sure my body compensates where the baby can't regardless; considering both my bloodlines are known for being freakin' hardy bastards I doubt anything like hormone deficiency is going to stop it from popping out."

Niko didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but he refrained from prying; reading the room and understanding that this wasn't the time. Promise, on the other hand, seemed to be in baby mode (good luck, big brother), because she slid back into the conversation with questions about Cassie's pregnancy with Dante and stories to share. It made me smile, even as it made me sick to my stomach. I was going to be a dad again and this time the stork wasn't going to bring me an eighteen-month-old already half broken in by his mother. I was seeing this thing through. From hormonal bitching to after birth to…well, I'd already done the dirty diapers and midnight wake ups with Dante. The birthing probably wouldn't be too bad either. After watching a queen revenant give birth, a human-type one probably would be a walk in the park. I could cut the umbilical cord with my ka-bar; after I disinfected it, of course. The hormonal part might not be as bad, considering the negation between peri and Auphe in Cassie, but…yeah, I knew what it all came down too.

That fear. She was vulnerable like this and soon there would be a little vulnerable baby, who I might not be able to protect…again. And damn it if they hurt Cassie while she was pregnant I would lose both. I felt Niko's movement before his hand touched my shoulder. I knew it was coming and it did give a little comfort. This family – sitting around a table and chatting over a meal – would all viciously protect this child. It was an unspoken oath. We wouldn't make the same mistakes again.

Cassie's laugh teased my mouth into a smile. I broke through the moment of paralyzing fear and patted Niko's hand to reassure him I got the message. I caught his eye and nodded just to drive that oath home. Then I nudged a barbeque pork roll onto Castiella's plate. She stopped mid-sentence with Robin (something about finding a new healer, since Rafferty was unresponsive to our calls) to glare at me, but that didn't stop me from kissing her. Her eyes flitted between their usual reddish brown and magma red from just that simple contact. One would assume that was Auphe rage, but nah, if she were pissed it would be peri-gold. That fiery burst, especially combined with her curled smile was 'hot and ready to go'. One kiss was all it took, huh? I needed to be more careful with that.

I didn't say anything to her, but grabbed the last shrimp dumpling from one of the wooden bowl things and let them go about continuing their conversation. I supposed getting a healer to look her over was the _paien_ equivalent of finding a gynecologist for human women. That was going to be rather important as time went on. Eventually, if the healer was good enough, they would be able to tell us who the father was easier than going on Maury. It didn't matter much on a physical level; a child born from me could easily be just as crazy as one from Grimm if given the right chemical/DNA cocktail, but I still wanted to know…kinda. That was probably my ego talking.

_Family dinner's not complete until the black sheep causes a fight._

I tensed, catching the unwelcomed sensation the same time that inner voice murmured its sweet nothings. The tick of several small gates opening at a distance; it touched the back of my brain like someone remembering they forgot to turn the stove off. Small weak gates, that either meant Bae or young Auphe. Beside me, Cassie stopped mid-sentence again. Her hand swung out and clutched at my lower arm, digging her fingertips into my muscle. "Don't you dare."

She was telling me not to gate and meet our unseen guests outside. Her mahogany eyes fixed on mine and she shook her head minutely. "It's just a few Auphe, not Grimm." I tilted my head to analyze that and figured that she was right. She was also right to caution me not to fight them. They had been observing, not attacking; if I drew first blood – like I had wanted to for several months now – it would just cause more problems for us.

The others of the table were watching us closely. Niko's hand was already under his jacket, probably clenched around one of his many bladed tricks. "We're finishing dinner," Cassie demanded, giving Niko a pointed look as well. There was no arguing with her either. Years ago, when the Auphe were really pissed at me for denying my title of Unmaker of the World, I wouldn't have put it passed them to pop into the restaurant and start a massacre to get to me, but now…the younger ones seemed more cautious. They would probably just wait until we strolled out of the restaurant; watching from a shuttered window like that creepy neighbor that was obsessed with knowing everything about her development.

We pushed through the rest of the meal with little conversation, but Castiella was stubborn in her decision. Eventually the bill came, which Robin footed as a gift to us, and she put her napkin on the table, smiling at me. "Well, should we go kill some Auphe?" She panned her eyes inquisitively over the table, with a light smile. "Ah, but first I have to pee," she sighed dramatically as she stood from the table. "Again."

"At least, that's no different," Promise teased. Without a word, the vampire followed Cassie, chatting lightly as they made their way to the restrooms at the back of the restaurant. She was trying not to let on that she tailed my lover as Cassie's protective detail; going where us guys couldn't go without a lot of questions from the public. Cas had to know why, but she didn't let it bother her. Girls always went to the bathroom together anyway.

"Is she serious?" I asked Robin, once the women were out of their extended earshot. Part of me hoped she was; as much as I loved the type of action I was getting, I felt the need for a little bloodshed rising. My Grimm issues were still unresolved with no conclusion in sight.

"She's been hunting Auphe longer than your existence, Caliban, of course she's serious." Goodfellow handed the leather fold our bill had been tucked in to the waiter that couldn't speak a lick of English and told him something in Mandarin. The waiter's mouth gaped and he bowed a few extra times before hustling some of the plates out of our space. Robin could be a swindling car salesman, a pick-pocketing thief, and a master trickster, but he still tipped well for service and product he liked. His means of networking, I supposed. "Although I don't believe it is a wise decision."

"I agree," Niko inserted eagerly. He leaned to the table, sideways in his chair to face me. "Cal, we shouldn't chance this. The Auphe are ambivalent right now, if we confront them we may end up bringing more than a few down upon us. You said it yourself: Grimm first, then the Auphe."

"Grimm first, then the Vigil, then the Auphe," I corrected. I wasn't questioning his judgment on this one, just his priorities. Even if I wanted to play, I couldn't be now. Cassie, at least, needed to get her flying-scissor-kick down again.

"We will not engage if they don't," Niko reiterated.

"Yeah, okay. But you get to tell the pregnant chick she can't have her fun." I was smirking at Niko's eyes roll when everything went to hell in a hand basket. A gate split the air with a crackle that stood the hair up on the back of my neck. I spun and stood in the same second, knocking my chair over with a thud. Grimm, the bastard, I knew it!

He took advantage of the Auphe's presence to mask his own. He wasn't there though, not behind me where the gate sizzled out. Robin and Niko were scouring the restaurant, instinctively knowing it was Grimm even if they hadn't felt the gate and I had said nothing. I, on the other hand, was running toward the bathrooms, gun drawn. Screaming humans scattered before me like a parting sea, frightened even more so by the gate I was cloaking around me just in case I needed a split-second to eat distance.

I kicked open the woman's bathroom door, hard enough to bend a hinge and free some wood splinters from the edge. I leveled my gun, but didn't have a clear shot. Grimm had her. The gate diverted my attention and he had just waltzed right into the bathroom. Cassie was stiff in his arms, breathing heavy and looking panicked, but I didn't think that was due to her own safety in peril.

There was a flashlight on the floor, bigger around than my fist at just the shaft. The light it shown was slightly purple and painful to glimpse even at an angle, since it was lying inert right next to one of the stall doors ripped loose and lying on the tile floor. I could smell cooked meat and singed hair; both came from the seething vampire holding post behind one of the bathroom stalls. The right side of Promise's face was a mass of angry red abrasions and blisters, trailing down her neck and across her chest, yet her nails were digging rents into the metal stall; she was readying to attack Grimm, despite his effective weapon against her. A UV flashlight? Damn it, this fucker was smart.

"I told you to leave my friends alone."

Grimm snorted and lifted Cassie's chin with his un-gloved hand. Her eyes were straining to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of Promise. "I think that rule has changed considering…" Grimm laid his clawed hand against her sternum, then ran one metal digit down the front of Cassie's shirt. The edge sliced through the fabric like warm butter. I watched the threads part to reveal creamy pale skin and a thin line of beading red. My finger tightened on the trigger; there was a small opening just above Cassie's shoulder as long as she didn't move. Her dark eyes had locked on mine now, telling me to stay my hand. She wasn't fighting him – her arms limp to her sides, chin tilted up at his urging. She had to be playing docile for a reason; she would strike first, I just had to trust in her timing.

"I understand your infatuation with her," Grimm teased. He tilted his head so his long nose pressed between a few locks of her autumn-hued hair, grinning as he took in a deep breath. "She's perfect. The offspring she can produce…perfect. Once we take the world back you can have her."

"Oh, so you're just taking her on loan?" I snarled. Promise had dropped her back against the bathroom stall. She had probably ripped off the door so she could dive at him without the obstruction, but now she took the moment to recuperate. She had back up. Her lavender eyes were on me, fixed as steadily as Cassie's. Both of them were waiting, like lionesses in the long grass. If I didn't loath him, I might pity Grimm when these women decided to attack.

"She needs to breed the Second Coming, Caliban. It will take too long if you do all the work yourself."

"Technically she's doing all the work, but I'm glad you finally admit you fucked up with the Bae."

He peered up at me from his leaned position over Cassie and snarled. His metal teeth clanked down, piercing the flesh of Castiella's throat. She barely flinched. "Hardly, they will serve their purpose, but you know as well as I this is our queen."

I felt my neck twitch; disturbed, but unsurprised that we actually regarded her in the same way. She was the first, she was the ultimate teacher for us and the children Grimm wished to produce. My gate still fluxed behind me, but I let it diminish when I felt Niko close in behind me. The bathroom didn't allow of him to circle around. There was only one little window about a foot from the ceiling and it was far too small for any of us to slip through. Maybe Cassie could, but she was a little preoccupied.

I took two steps forward, giving enough space for him to come in when the time came.

"You don't like the idea of sharing, do you?" Grimm snickered. Those claws of his slipped under the tear in her shirt, disappearing almost completely. Cassie did shift then; she could only handle so much. "You don't have to. If this lets you see my way of thinking, then I'll let you have her. I'm sure the line will be just as strong through the offspring."

There were few things that people could say to disturb me, but ever since this Second Coming of his, Grimm had been unlocking my jaw with his disgusting comments. It wasn't enough that he held down and screwed succubae and peris against their will, he had to take my lover and gloat about it, and _now_ he was claiming he would fuck my children instead?"You are one sick bastard."

"_A little longer. Find them."_ That was Cassie, not the voice in my head. Thankfully, my inner demon didn't speak in Auphe. It was the perfect means of communication between us though; Grimm didn't understand it and it always had a way of pissing him off. In this type of game we needed him unsettled. Unfortunately, I wasn't fluent in the language either, so the last word was lost on me and my head translated it as 'them'.

A longer distraction I could handle, which meant she had a plan. The last part I had no freakin' clue. I knew she was strong enough to knock Grimm sideways at this point, which was where I could fill him full of lead. Key was that he didn't know she was strong enough to do that, so she had to keep up the docile act up and I had to be the brains of this operation, which was a frightening turn of events. "There's a little snafu in your plan, you incestuous idiot. Our incubator is limited. She doesn't have any eggs to supply your harem."

Grimm's hand paused under Cassie's shirt, his red eyes piercing as he questioned my words silently. "So you're son is just a figment of our imagination then?"

"Dante was an exception. A one egg deal. And what do you mean _our_ imagination," I hissed. I was getting a little more than sick of his mentioned my dead son. Either Grimm was watching me longer than I had originally assumed or he'd done more with the Vigil than just bust in with some dynamite to spring the Harbinger. Dante was a brief moment in my life, too brief, but a part of my life that I never wanted Grimm to know of. He shouldn't have known about it.

But he did and chuckled about it. "Is this an exception too?" The claws revealed themselves from under her shirt and moved to cup low on her stomach. I almost fired right then and there. 0.3 pound of pressure and the bullet would let loose. How the hell did he fucking know! Cassie's fingers curled, gripping at Grimm's thigh in warning. Her eyes flickered to their sides, flashing gold. Her voice was barely a whisper when it escaped her lips, but it sent a chill down my spine even at a distance. "I will murder you."

Grimm's metal teeth flashed in his grin. Red meeting gold. "Why do you deny it so much? The way you screamed and writhed. It wasn't pleasurable?"

"Well, it wasn't memorable, that's for sure. Lacking a couple inches," Cassie counted. I had no idea how she could be so calm with his metal glove right over her growing belly, but I was impressed. It also helped me keep my cool. A moment later impressed changed to fucking proud and even more frightened of her. It happened in a second; Grimm went from threatening an unborn child and harassing my lover to howling in pain. Cassie's hand was clutching between his legs, squeezing him in a vice. Blood blossomed over the crotch of his jeans where her natural talons torn into him. "And now lacking a couple more."

With Auphe speed, the two of them started an all-out assault on each other. He grabbed her up by the nape and made to chuck her headfirst into the wall, which would have left me the wide target of his back, but Cassie kicked him back into the frame of another stall. He used the fixture to rebound at her, but Castiella spun around in front of him, blocking my immediate shot. I dropped to one knee, letting off two shot to his kneecaps in the exact moment her legs lifted. In a combo-attack, Grimm's legs bucked from the bullets and his shoulders were kicked back into the wall by both of Cassie's snap kicks. She used the momentum to flip back, landing on the broken stall door and was promptly grabbed up by the lightening-quick movement of the vampire lying in wait.

I shifted my aim to unload now that my girlfriend was out of the line of fire, but Grimm was gone. Left a nice dent in the cracked sheetrock, but gone…gated like a little pussy. Of which he might very well have now after that. "Cas?"

"I'm fine," she assured me, but didn't resist when I cast my arm around her and collected her against my chest. "Get the flashlight, turn it off." Niko was already on that, but the fact that she was _still _concerned about Promise was both stupid and adorable. Although, looking more closely at Promise, Cassie's concerns weren't entirely unwarranted. "We have to get her somewhere safe."

"You too," I responded. Cassie was on her feet with only a few scratches on her. Stark gold eyes were telling enough that she would probably turn those claws on me if I didn't help my brother with Promise. "I get it, I get it. Just stay close." That she agreed too and once we got out of the now empty restaurant Robin was there to cover her blind side. He had a car waiting for us; Promise's personal driver actually, who obviously knew what she was, because he didn't seem hugely shocked by her appearance, concerned but not shocked. At least, he was calm until a Bae landed on the hood of his car, baring long metal teeth in place of snake fangs.

"Shit!" I gated behind the little demon, further denting the hood, wrenched its head back by that filmy white hair and slammed the serrated edge of my matte knife into the fleshy part of his chin, right into the brain. I tossed the body off the black car and stood at the ready; that little bastard wasn't the only one around.

There were Auphe peering over the ledges of buildings at all corners, watching us like this was a Roman stadium. On the streets the Bae slunk through the throngs of people – humans – some wearing trench coats, some not bothering to cover their melanin-deprived hides. Six, I counted; the humans hadn't seemed to notice yet, though several looked at me as if I'd blown a gasket still standing on the car as I was. Nevermind the body I'd just tossed into the gutter. Nope, just one of those weird hairless dogs with the white Mohawk, right? That was all. Just an overgrown starved animal. With their elongated limbs it wasn't surprising that the humans would avert their eyes, but _really_? I just—ah, whatever.

I hopped down onto the sidewalk and motioned for the driver to go. Niko was still in the car, covering Promise from the muted light of the afternoon sky as a precaution. He wasn't going to be happy with me shooing him away, but he could suck it up. What I didn't like was that Cassie _wasn't_ in the car as it drove off, in fact she'd gotten out while it was moving. "What the hell are you doing? Robin and I got this!"

The Bae closest to me looped a little closer; it laughed like a freaky horror movie clown. I went for my gun with my right hand. Castiella's palm cupped over my knuckles, anchoring my hand around the weapon in its holster. "Not here. There are too many humans."

"I didn't choose the arena," I complained.

Her dark eyes flickered over to Robin. She commanded something in another language and he nodded jogging down the road. Damn it, they'd stopped the car, not a block from where we were and Niko was already half out the door. Robin was rushing to meet him, but my concern was for the claws that swiped at my back. I spun to slash with my knife, since guns were apparently a no-no here even if plenty of human New Yorkers had one, but Cassie was already on top of it. Literally, on top of the Bae and ripping open its stomach with her talons. Well, at least those were still fully functional. I swung around to get the one on my left, but something magical happened.

Now magic wasn't real, not the hexes and spells sort of magic. Psychics and metal golems and tiaras that could suck a talent out of someone, those were real, but not magic. I was using this in reference to an event as likely as me shitting unicorns magical. Right in front of our very eyes an Auphe – a freakin' Auphe – dropped down on top of the Bae sprinting toward me and tore its head off. Crouched over the body, it grinned at me, brought the head up to its metal toothed mouth, and sucked up the blood using a torn artery as a straw. _That_ was, sadly, a little less surreal, but instead of attacking me and Cassie next it popped out of existence dead Bae body and all. Not a threatening word, not an aggressive action.

"The fuuuck…" I hissed out, disbelieving ever second of that. I glanced around, but all six Bae, minus the two dead ones at Cassie and my feet were gone. So were the Auphe. I looked at my girlfriend, sure my jaw was on the ground. Her round eyes were just as wide and her eyebrows just as screwed together.

"Did they just…"

"Help us?" I finished for her. There was a crack in the end since I couldn't really get the words out, let alone believe them. Cassie grabbed my hand and yanked me down the road toward the waiting sedan. She had apparently told Robin to meet us somewhere, intending on taking the fight to a location less limiting, but it was unnecessary and either Niko or Robin had stopped the car again, three blocks away, when they saw this.

We only made it one block, before a gate cracked open in front of us and we had to haul back in order not to fall into it. Both of us dropped to one knee at the sudden change of direction, giving the returning Auphe just enough leverage to pounce on Cassie. I had my gun out and pressed to the back of his flaxen-haired head within a second. Any Auphe could out-gate a bullet, but it would have to choose between doing that or hurting my lover.

"_Careful, careful. Wish to play, only to play." _Again, that wasn't the voice in my head. That was the Auphe hissing through its dozens of metal teeth. Cassie's black claws were already in the Auphe's shoulder, the pointed tips could be seen through its back, but it didn't seem to mind. Pain was part of the game. It wasn't any fun without it. Blood oozed darkly down its naked shoulder, but it rolled the joint to deepen the wounds as if pleasured by it.

"I know how you play," I snarled. Cassie was unshaken beneath the creature, her breath and pulse a strong, but measured. She wasn't panicked. I actually wasn't panicked either. This close to an Auphe after all those years terrified, I should have been pissing myself. But my hand was steady on the gun, my body wound and ready to tear into this bitch. Yeah, bitch…this was a female; I could smell it now. "I'm not in the mood to play."

The female Auphe slid her opaque red eyes toward Cassie, I could only tell because the skull shifted my gun a fraction with the movement. _"Reaper of the Virtues, Unmaker of the World you are clever. You evaded us for a time. We let you. We will continue to let you feign freedom."_

"_At what cost?"_ Cassie responded. Since they'd once referred to me as the Unmaker of the World, I assumed Cassie was the Reaper of the Virtues, which also made sense since she was created to kill the peris. Neither of us really did our jobs very well in the long run though, so 'at what cost' was a good question. Why were the Auphe stalking, but not acting? Why were they explicitly telling us they would continue to do that?

"_The children of the Failure are worthy of nothing but death. Not even entertaining enough to play with. They offend. _We_ will kill them."_

"You want to do the job for us, fabulous. Hop to it then," I countered. I still had the gun to the female's head, more than aware there was another one squatting on a parked Ford right next to me, just over my left shoulder. Niko was standing guard four feet away and, amusingly enough, that was who the second Auphe had his eye on. My human brother was more of a threat than I was. Or maybe it was just that the female between Cassie and I thought she was hot shit.

The female Auphe cast her eyes upon me, getting sassy since I gave her an order. I pulled the trigger without hesitation, but that didn't matter when her hand was already in motion. The gun exploded; when the bullet passed through the chamber the Auphe was in the middle of dissecting it with three claws. I cringed and threw my head to one side when one of her talons snapped off from the force of the bullet. Powder singed my cheek, hand, and hair and several pieces of metal cut my face and hand like shrapnel. The female Auphe had expected that about as much as I had, so she was no better, skittering back from the impact with a vampire-in-the-daylight hiss. She batted at the side of her contorted face. Ended up cutting it more.

I felt the warmth of a humanoid hand wrap around me, pulling me close to a solid body. I would have thought it Niko, if my face wasn't half buried in a sweet smelling pair of soft boobs. When I opened my eyes all I could see was filtered light through Cassie's wings, protecting like a cocoon. Her head was above them though and she was hissing derogatory threats at the Auphe. I wasn't about to be coddled.

I shoved her wing down, to see the male had leaped down between us and the female. Would you look at that? Maybe she Claimed him. He was certainly hunkering down like a minion. I grabbed a throwing knife from the inside of my jacket and threw it at his face. Gating was apparently not his strong suit because my blade sunk into his eye and he went down with a thud. The female arched up like a hissing cat, but she shoved the male's body out of the way all the same. _"Yes, play. Let's play."_

"_No," _Cassie countered._ "The hybrids are yours to kill. Leave us, we have served you long enough."_

"_Served? No, no. You have served no purpose to us. Failures, all of you, but there will be more. And there is another. He is ours, he will never be yours. Every child you bare, ours, ours, all ours."_ I could literally feel it or maybe I smelled it, but that switch went off in mama lion and Cassie was about to let loose the Auphe in her. Not that I blamed her. Caliban was ready to haul ass on these fuckers. Staking claim on our unborn children, current and future? 'Oh, hell no' didn't begin to cover it. I couldn't let Castiella the Harbinger break out in the middle of a human street though; she was worse than me when it came to collateral damage while in rampage mode. I grabbed her around the waist before she could lift from my arms and, without thinking, sliced my Ka-bar over her thigh. It wasn't enough to cause much damage, the same as a nudge or a squeezing of the shoulder…just a more Auphe approach.

Cassie responded; her wings flitted out of existence and her eyes, though lava red just like our adversary's, fixed on mine with more cognizance that I had hoped for. She was still with me.

"Cal." The short firm syllable came from Niko. He was only getting part of the conversation, but I knew he saw Cassie's threads of sanity unraveling. He also just saw me cut her to bring her back. That wasn't healthy by human standards. I waved him back with the same blade. My Glock was in pieces along the sidewalk. My cheek and eyes still stung from the powder and whatever remained imbedded there, but it was my throbbing hand clutching Cassie's waist that kept me grounded as well as tuned in to this little back and forth. I was dealing with the Auphe, it wouldn't be right without something throbbing unhappily.

They weren't here to fight us though, for once. Just to play, they had said, and they hadn't even wanted to play with us to begin with. They took their chosen toys and went home. Cassie and I…they wanted to tease us, threaten, manipulate. They were evolving just like Grimm. They were testing Cassie and my control and our resolve. Well, screw them. I was golden right now. Controlled and on top of my game…minus half the gun in my face.

I lifted Cassie with me as I stood up, chin raised and eyes narrowed. The female followed my movement, but even standing straight (if her spine would have even allowed that) I didn't think she reached my shoulder. "The Bae are all yours. Grimm too, if you can get to him before we do, but my kids and family…you will never have those."

Her eyes seemed to light up. She shifted onto all fours and padded over to me like she was Golem and I had the 'one ring to rule them all'. "We haaave those. Failure at aaahll things. You misssplaced your toyssss." Her English wasn't the greatest, but considering they probably hadn't been practicing for very long I commended her, though what she meant by that escaped me. Was she talking about Grimm? He liked to consider me family; he was far from it.

It didn't matter much what she meant when a bullet sailed through her head from temple to temple. She dropped flat on the sidewalk, black blood pooling quickly. Niko then tossed me the gun, a small but effective Walther P22. It was new; I hadn't remembered him having that in his arsenal, but I supposed Grimm had rattled us all. Cassie and I 'checked' on each other with a quick once over and then we were both moving toward Niko and, once he joined us, toward the car.

"Your thigh," Niko murmured to Cassie, effectively calling attention to what I'd done and asking Cassie if she was all right.

"It's fine," she replied. She opened the door and motioned for Niko to get in. Robin had been standing on the sidewalk, ready to take out stragglers or rush to our aid, but when Cassie and I approached, he'd returned to the passenger's side door and slid in. "Communication is key in a relationship."

I would have smiled if I were in a better mood. Niko didn't find it amusing, but he also didn't see me stabbing my girlfriend as an appropriate means of communication. "Get in the car, Nik." I didn't feel like explaining it to him. "I'll meet you at home."

I caught Cassie up around the waist again and wrapped a gate around us. There wasn't enough room in the car and I wasn't about to try and hail a cab. I had enough for today. I was all out of fucks to give.


	21. Golden Boy - 6

**GOLDEN BOY**

_I was given so many teachers it was difficult to keep track of them all, but it was always the less orthodox that glowed more brilliantly in my mind. Either for what they taught or how they treated me. None dared to harm me, but so many were frightened. Refusing to enter my room more than a toe beyond the door adjoining theirs to mine, remaining still on the farthest chair from me, always with one eye fixed as if I were the one to choose their death. It was never my choice, save for the man that chose to threaten my life._

_I remembered the first. Just a child of eight, the Auphe had brought me up from the vast lands of Tumulus to her home in suburban Colorado. She made me cookies and something called Frogs on a Log. The resemblance was nothing like the amphibian named, but it introduced me to celery, raisins, and peanut butter all in one snack. Vegetable, fruit, and a protein that didn't taste of metal and death._

She was kind, too kind. Her compassion overcame her fear and she tried to set me free. She was slaughtered slowly by my kin and I was returned to the fold. Until my health began to fail in that plane of existence. I experimented later, when I had the ability to shift between the worlds myself and with the help of another teacher – a scientist – I found than my organs were placed as a human would be within my fragile body and suffered the same limitations. The level of Argon distributed in Tumulus' air was a poison to humans. My Auphe half couldn't even sustain negation over prolonged years. I supposed that should have made me reconsidering my parentage, but I just assumed my mother was peri and human. Until the Auphe told me their true constitutions and told me I was unwanted in their arms.

I was brought back to Earth. Imprisoned in the old hotel, watched over by a paien in liege with the Auphe. Indentured as they said, but he did not. He was a puck, called himself the Hob. I learned much from him as well. I told him once he resembled a face in my memory I couldn't quite reach. He had smiled in a manner that foretold secrets he would never speak of. What he did say was "you remind me of a boy I owe a great deal of attention too". I understood that it wasn't the kind of attention one wish to be showered with. He wasn't referring to me. In fact, if I were to gather, believed he rather liked me. I enjoyed his grandiose tales of experiences he'd had, his exaggerated hand in history, and the depiction of all the lands he'd seen.

When I asked why her remained serving the young Auphe – he was an old puck, perhaps the first of his kind – he simply replied that he would leave when he bored of it. He had a deal with the Auphe, but between a race of trickersters and one of pure malice a deal such as theirs would never remain strong.

I owed him a great deal as well; the knowledge he shared with me was experience –no matter the inaccuracies. He treated me as something unremarkable, but such treatment was welcomed. He let me run; that might have been the greatest flavor. I returned to the hotel shortly after the slaughter of Grimm's offspring. A tactic I presumed would assure the Auphe that I knew where my place was and I would return. I had no such intentions and Hob knew. He asked me if I would be back and I told him if I did it would be as a corpse. With a smile that hinted at his own perverse malice, he claimed he would become bored without me, gave me six thousand in US currency, and allowed me to leave with my clothes and computer. He called me little Albatross and his parting words were to tell me to take flight. I heeded them.

Still, by far, Nova was the most memorable of my teachers. In the following weeks after we fled the farm house in New Mexico she began to tutor me in her language and the peris' culture. She claimed I should know my heritage. Even more rewarding, she helped me identify emotions. I was having an abundance of them lately and Nova gave each a proper name from my description of physical and metaphysical bodily reactions combined with the given situation I shared.

When my mind raced with several fractions of coherent thought, unable to locate an action or words to express myself, she called it to be speechless or shocked. The tears shed when I recalled my mother or dreamt of her and my imagined father abandoning me to the Auphe, the stimulation of the tear ducts wasn't due to physical pain, but due to what Nova coined as sadness and loneliness. When she said something that I knew was inaccurate and wouldn't admit she was incorrect my blood started pumping faster making my face hot and Nova informed me that such a reaction was from my frustration. And when my skin crawled with the intense need to touch her, mouth craving the taste of her, that was passion. I experienced the latter most frequently in the weeks that followed.

Nova had become more than a teacher; she was my companion, my friend. She endured my company with pleasure, eager to help me find my mother. In the meantime, we found her brethren. Quite unplanned, but setting them free of Grimm's dark devices was becoming enjoyable...uplifting. If I kept my wings out the peris didn't cower from me as readily. They still feared my gates, but such was the easily way to separate them from their prisons quickly and with much needed distance.

"Hey, daydreamer. You hungry?" I glanced up, distracted from my thoughts, by Nova's call. She had left the hotel room to procure some food, while I had been left researching what I could on my computer, utilizing the hotel's Wi-Fi. We had paid for a room this time; Nova didn't take kindly to denying a merchant their business with trickery and gates.

Nova entered the room with a smile she had been showing me more often as of late. A bright display of her teeth that seemed to exponentially relate to the tone of her voice and her relaxed body language. I could only assume it meant she was happy. Or perhaps hiding something darker with the front of happiness. She couldn't be pleased with the mistreatment Grimm had bestowed upon her kin. Many of the peris we had found were not living; some caverns and abandoned buildings were void of any life at all.

Nova leaned over me as I sat cross legged on the bed. She had placed the plastic bag our food was in on the table next to the door. Her arms draped over my shoulders as she hugged me from behind. It was an interesting feeling. The weight of her body, the swell of her breasts to my back, the touch of her honeysuckle scent to my nose. It made my mouth curve into an unfamiliar smile. I wasn't hungry for food in that moment.

I took her by the arm and guided her to my side. She clearly was unsure of my action to pull her from her affection, until she met my eyes. Whatever she saw there made her grin in a manner unbecoming of a peri's supposed morals. "It seems you missed me."

"I did," I responded, pushing the computer toward the foot of the hotel bed. She didn't resist when I crawled over her, prowling in every sense of the word. In fact, she encouraged the action with her hands running over my shoulders to follow the curve of my jaw and bringing my mouth upon hers.

"The food will get cold," she whispered, as my hands slid under her shirt with every intention of removing it. I indulged my tactile desires despite her claim, my olfactory as well when I nudged my nose to her soft throat.

"Microwave," I countered. Her mouth curled on one side and she lifted her long arms.

"Fair enough."

She made no other mention of resistance as we laid together; working up even more of an appetite before we were sated. Her little sounds of pleasure crossed into perian at some points. My pride in understand and for enticing those sounds from her was undeniable. After nearly an hour, we relinquished ourselves to fatigue. Neither of us fell asleep, but neither of us really wanted to stir from our repose.

I enjoyed Nova's scent laced with sweat as well, dipped my nose within her thick dark hair to inhale the fragrance. Her weight nestled to my side left me unbalanced and hindered any quick action I might need to execute, but I felt safe enough hidden away in our room and I didn't want to deny the pleasant sensation of her breath across my chest. It was accompanied by the idle dance of her fingers over my muscles.

"I've uncovered notation from a conspiracy theorist living in Centralia, Pennsylvania, which is claimed to be an abandoned town where a coal fire still burns underground. The theorist has been noticed strange movement near his home. Sites descriptions closely resembling that of the hybrids' appearance." Nova didn't stir from her reclined position even as I shifted to speak a little easier. "There is also an organization in New York going by the name of the Vigil that seems to be tracking Grimm as well. They aren't as lenient with their firewall, so I haven't been able to find much from them, but the North Brother Island is worth looking into."

"It's always work with you, isn't it?" Nova giggled.

I felt my mouth curve down as my brow wrinkled. Did she not understand how pressing it was for me to keep as close to Grimm's trail as possible? I untangled my arm from under her warm body and lifted from the bed to separate us. "Nova, I appreciate everything I learn from you and all you give me, but I can't remain idle when my mother is trapped under Grimm."

A little sigh escaped her lips, then she wet them. It was a habit she'd formed to hide her frustration when I was unable to comprehend a point she was trying to make or just didn't read her tone correctly. The majority of the time, it was because I missed a joke. I watched her prop herself up on her elbows, still lounging on her stomach. "I understand, Ace. Both locations are sites of human superstition too; I'm sure Grimm takes into account that neither are inhabited by many."

"You're angry with me?"

Nova smirked and shook her head. "No, Ace. I'm not angry with you." She rolled and sat up on the bed, only covered by the sheet draped across her lap. I watched her start to run her finger through her long dark hair, removing the tangles and smoothing it so she could braid it into a shiny palate. _My eyes drifted over her body as she worked, fascinated with the twitch and pull of muscles. I found a great fascination with the muscles along her back. Studying human physique through diagram on the internet, only provided so much accurate information regarding myself. Nova was a peri, which I shared some of that blood. The muscles along her back and around her shoulder blades were different than a human's structure. As would make sense; in order to utilized our wings for flight or even carry them on our backs we would need an extensive amount of muscles along our ribs and leading up and down our backs. I could feel them on myself, but it was much more informative to see and touch them on Nova's._

_She showed little reaction to my exploring fingers, but she also didn't shift to allow better access as she had before_. "You're lying." I dropped my hand from her spine, realizing the strange sound in her voice when she negated my question represented the opposite of what she was saying.

"I'm not lying," she sighed. She patted the mattress beside her to beckon me. Since I was already within distance to touch her, I assumed she was requesting that I sit up with her. I obliged. Nova's hand touched my thigh over the sheet, then she twisted her wrist around to collect my hand in hers. "I'm not the perfect representation of a peri, as I'm sure you've realized. I actually wanted to get away from my clan for a while now. Go somewhere that clan-less peris were welcome, like Las Vegas or New York City. I wanted something more than the mundane day-to-day life I was living."

"You received your wish, but it wasn't what you expected?"

Nova leaned against my shoulder, tilting her chin up to ask for a kiss. I provided it without hesitation. "No, it wasn't what I expected, but despite losing my family and so many lives and going through the horror of…well, I'm still kinda happy. Here, at least."

"I believe that is what the humans call a 'silver lining'. I still don't understand why I still feel like you're mad at me."

"You can be a little obtuse," she giggled. "I want to be with you. Just the two of us, running off and having these adventures. Me teaching you, learning from you as well. It's a childish, wistful thought. When we have sex, you're so intensely focused on me that I think that might be possible, and then instead of enjoying the afterglow you start off on the things that need to be done that I've been ignoring."

I took sometime to process what she was saying, trying to analyze it and compare it to previous conversations. Mainly I was trying to identify her emotions right then. "You feel guilt, not anger."

Her lips parted, the thinner lower lip matching the thickness of the upper with her frown. "The student surpassed the teacher," she whispered. Nova dropped her forehead to my shoulder. Close enough that I could feel her warm, soft breast give way to the more solid muscle of my arm. I had to ignore the distraction, which was a little easier since the pride swelling in my chest was more profound than the arousal swelling elsewhere. _I was right; she wasn't angry at all, but felt guilty for wanting to run away from all of this with me. She knew Grimm needed to be dealt with, my mother needed to be found and protected, and she would eventually have to face her family again, but all she wanted was to be rid of those responsibilities and that made her feel wretched._

I nudged my nose to her temple and touched my lips there. "You aren't a bad peri for thinking those things. It is in the nature of all to focus on that which elevates us. If we were to focus on that which depresses us only most races would fall to their own self-destruction." I gave her a moment to think about that, like she always gave me, then asked. "I need to find my mother, Nova. But if you would rather, I can part ways with you and return when I've completed that mission."

"No," she replied. "I want to help the peris, I want to find the Harbinger, and I want to slaughter Grimm. It would just be nice to forget about that and enjoy the moment sometimes."

"I promise to enjoy the afterglow next time."

Nova laughed; a sweet, musical sound I adored. She pressed her palm to my jaw to angle my head for a lingering kiss. "Thanks, Ace. Now…you hungry?"

"Famished."

The next morning we set out for Centralia. We both figured it would be easier to pass through the abandoned mining town before we headed to Manhattan. The drive – Nova didn't appreciate gating as it made her ill – was still going to take us several days, which I supposed was beneficial. Nova needed a break from the constant cloud of pressure I'd hung over our heads. So I attempted to treat our travel as a 'road trip' as human's called it. Which led to her laughing at my expense often; I didn't take it personally, I would rather her laugh at me than seem so pensive. In Missouri we bought winter jackets from a man selling them on a busy street corner; he blessed us when I handed him a fifty dollar bill. In Indiana I tasted Chinese food for the first time, while Nova cursed at me for taking up the chopsticks without much tutoring. Ohio, I'd been before and still marveled at the normalcy of the state. If I decided to settle down, it would probably be there. Nova said it would be too boring when I mentioned it. The trip was entertaining and I appreciated Nova's company, _but I still felt unsatisfied._

_I could no longer speak with her about my concerns for my mother and Grimm. My mother was pregnant and that child was my family. My little brother or sister. Would she understand my desperation to save them from Grimm? Or would she claim I wasn't enjoying the moment again. I couldn't. My conscious wouldn't let me. The pressure of it antagonized her psyche. I couldn't give her the life of simple adventure and intrigue she desired. There were too many dark shadows trailing my history. _And one of those shadows caught up to us in Pennsylvania.

_Centralia was a hazy landscape of softly undulating hills and the silent remains of a town that once functioned well. Nova and I abandoned the car, once the road we travel in on split down the center to release the smoke from the coal fires below the surface. My research had both whispered of this place being haunted as well as forcibly abandoned for government experiments. I doubted either. The mining tunnels below were set ablaze and there was just too much accelerant for it to cease naturally. The pours of the earth allow oxygen to feed it and the smoke revealed itself on the surface to give it that haunted appearance. _

_As we walked the deserted streets, we passed an inhabited home. It was the only one left standing on the street. No one was visible in the yard, greeting us merrily as they once might have, but I could see the figure of a cautious man peering through drapes. Most that lived here weren't the exaggerated shut-ins film and legend claimed them to be. From my research, most were just stubborn and loyal to their land. They traveled into other towns for work and life, but remained rooted to the home they created. I wasn't sure if I felt respect for their determination, or pity for their poor choices. The smoke wasn't abundant, but I could only assume it would be detrimental to their health over long periods of ingestion. I left the paranoid neighbor alone and continued down the street, following Nova's wandering footpath._

_I couldn't sense anything here. The heat and rolling energy coming from the kinetic reactions below us masked so much. Auphe weren't the type of creature to bask in the fires below; their hides were attuned to the chill of Tumulus. But succubae held the traits of a serpent and Grimm's children might follow the same gene line. A heated lamp or a warm rock were heaven to a snake, but was a coal fire too intense? Were they one the surface or below? Were they even here? _

"Ace," Nova called when I began to lag behind. I lengthened my stride to approach her, scaling the remains of the stone wall, which had previously partitioned off the town's cemetery. There was only snow here in patches, where every other town we passed through had a few inches of cover. The ground was too warm and the result was slush under the soles of my boots. The cemetery seemed to be maintained. The town wasn't as old as some, but regardless the tombstones weren't crumbling or vandalized.

Nova waited for me by a sinkhole just outside the graveyard's reach. She held her arms over her stomach and gazed at me expectantly. "Did you want to chance exploration underground?"

I had previously, but the scent of sulfur was choking and the steam and smoke lifting from the hole wasn't promising. I shook my head. A coal fire would likely kill neither of us, but there was no need to risk exploration. Grimm wouldn't bring the peris here. He wanted to contain his incubators not poison them or their wombs with carbon monoxide. "If he is here, he will be on the surface."

I heard the whisper of my name behind me. Not the fond nickname Nova had given me as a reminder of what I'd lost, but the feral hiss of the name they had given me, _my unwanted family, my jailers, my enemy._ I spun and felt my heart immediately pick up speed. Nova gasped, but remained frozen near the sinkhole. They'd found me.

One of the creatures was crouched precariously on a large tombstone shaped as a symbol of a lord that would never condone the Auphe's existence. He leaned forward so his black claws scoured at the granite. His red eyes lacked both pupil and sclera, just an infinite view into the depths of what my soul could be. I felt my own talons breech my fingertips, growing to their full length at the threat of a creature fully capable, where I had expected inadequate attacks from Grimm's children.

I took two steps back closer to Nova. I needed to provide her protection, but to show any favor would indicate my affections for her_. It would be a death sentence. The Auphe would prey on that weakness with relish. I asked what he wanted. I was more than aware that several more had appeared around the cemetery. One coming from behind, two from the left; four, I knew the odds there and they weren't in my favor._

_He hissed in our shared language, asked me why I killed the weakling children and serpent mothers with blood dripping from my hands, but freed the fowl. I had been hoping they would just see the death and not my actions to let loose the peris, which meant if they'd seen that they would have undoubtedly seen my companionship with Nova. _

_He crept further down the tomb. His hindquarters – not quite human, but not classifiable as canine or vulpine – stretched at an odd angle, claws hooking the crevasse. His upper body arched up, lifting his chin and flashing those glinting metal teeth in frontal view. _I imagined them sinking into Nova's bronzed flesh; it sickened me.

_He asked if I sought another purpose for the peris, interested in what I might have devised whether it be torture or progress. He called them winged pawns. He said they were miserable fowl that were once our greatest enemy and now they placed their blades to the ground in false pacifism. _It wasn't false, but I decided not to argue. _The peris were captured by Grimm because of their pacifism; they weren't prepared for battle after so long in peace.___

_I didn't like his words. They were much more measured than that which I was used to hearing from my demonic brothers. They were learning like I was; understanding the wide use of even their own language. New words were just the beginning. I assured him I could learn from the peris. It was part of my heritage. The Auphe argued that the only heritage I held claim to was theirs. What I would learn from the fowl would not benefit._

"Ace." Nova's whispered breath caused my body to stiffen uncontrollably. It was an obvious reaction and there was no possibility that the Auphe hadn't seen it. The one behind us loped around, playfully diving and dodging between the erected stones. I could hear its claws screech against the granite. She was edging closer and closer to Nova. The other two remained in their high perches on skeletal trees, peering down like an executioner.

The playful beast caroled as it trotted around one of the epitaphs. Making humor of my name, calling Nova 'it'. The more eloquent of the group spoke again. _By now he had dropped to the grass. He as well didn't appreciate the name I'd bestowed upon myself. He claimed it was a__ name not befitting my purpose, my power. He also told me Nova was useless._

"She is none of your concern."

The male Auphe leading this quartet seemed to lift his head in surprise. I'd been speaking to him in the language of the Auphe, implying more with sounds than words. Those last words came out in English, strong and shaken in the same breath. I feared for her life even more now. Useless, meant only one thing to Auphe.

"She should be none of your concern." he countered. His voice seemed to hiss like a deflating tire gouged by glass as he spoke; the difficulty of learning another language. "You are gnawing at the chain that binds your leg to us. You will fail."

My fingers curled just enough that I could feel the edge of the talons bite into my palm. "Then I will tear off the leg.

The Auphe grinned, those hundreds of needle sharp teeth in full exposure. "You will never be free of us. We are your kin. You are our blood."

Within a single second, he ripped open the space behind Nova. I spun, witnessing the threads tear vertically from between her legs to over the crown of her head. I reached for her, closer than a gate, but my hand brushed her jacket, unable to gain purchase before she was torn from my grasp. Nova wasn't helpless, she had told me that once and proven it several times during altercations with the hybrids. Here, in this crucial moment, she showed me no different.

She spun with a push dagger already in hand. The gate wasn't completely peeled back and her blade, though it sliced cleanly through the thin, clawed hand digging into her shoulder, was shaved in half by the edge of the separated space. Nova stumbled back; the dagger was short to begin with and she knew how close she had been to loosing her hand. I caught her waist and gated. They followed and caught us. One pounced on my back. I dropped to the solid ground beneath me.

Their game had begun. _It wasn't the first blood they'd drawn from my flesh, but it was more than they were willingly to spill previously. I felt the warmth of it sear my chilled body as the Auphe atop me dug his claws in through the spaces between my ribs, renting muscle. It soaked my coat, caused my mind to become hazy, interrupted my concentration to gate. I reached, pleaded for a door to open with no fruition.___

_Nova's hand was clenched in mine, slender fingers crushed from the pressure. The new sensation of drowning taught me why a man would grasp at seaweed to keep afloat. My lungs were filling with the liquid form of life. It seeped from my mouth to the pristine snow. Breathing became a labor – only one lung seemed to be inflated – and survival was quickly becoming an impossibility.___

_I choked on Nova's name, twisting my head to see her. Her dark eyes were fixed on me, not with the determination and fire of her essence those were faded and gone from the world. Her gaze was dead as was the shell the remaining Auphe had cracked open to feast upon. The game wasn't for her. Unpermitted to play. She was deemed fodder – no, a meal before playtime. In their eager haste her arm, the extension of the hand I held, had been torn free of her body. Blood covered every inch of her pallid brown skin, pieces of her clothing floated in the air as the pack of wild creatures ripped it asunder. It reminded me of snow; a soul pure until it touched the soiled ground. Me, I sullied her with the carnage of reality.___

_What I held in my hand wasn't an extension of her body, but the very limb I needed to spurn away from myself. A representation of the leg I needed to remove to be free of the demons the priest warned would try and keep me in their arms. The Auphe did it for me. They removed the leg; they erased any fleeting thought of loyalty I might have entertained.___

_The male Auphe, triggering muscular reactions with little ticks in his fingers, reverted to his language. He hissed in my ear that the weak were not pets. They were food and I would one day understand that. He claimed they would teach me from now on, because I was a pet, their pet. I could struggle all I liked, but the chain would only squeeze tighter. He didn't realize that he had already freed me.___

_I told him that the chain was already broken thanks to him. The sounds came out more audibly in our tongue. A language made to be spoken with blood in the mouth and death on the lips.___

_I released my wings and bucked the demon off my back. I let go of Nova's severed hand. Released myself from the bindings of this hateful existence. I felt the sigh within. A sigh of freedom realized. Then there was nothing but blood as black as the shadows that followed._


	22. Chapter 14 - Cal

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

**CAL**

Sometimes a plot twist was needled at so many times that the numerous bits of foreshadowing were too obvious to ignore. It spoiled a movie, ruined a book…well, lets be honest, ruined a comic book, and generally made one feel massively stupid for not getting it at the first go. And sometimes even if the twist was obvious, you hung in there if only for the sole reason of figuring out how the hell the twist was possible when all previous signs lead you to believe it inconceivable. That was about where I was at the moment; caught somewhere between impossible and how hadn't I seen.

"Are you going to sit still or do I have to tie you to the toilet tank?"

I glanced over at my brother, trying not to move my head with the motion. The attempt was there, but digging pieces of Glock out of my face was more painful that a sewing up a stab wound without local anesthetic. I kept flinching and making Niko lose hold on the shard he was fishing for in my cheek. My racing thoughts didn't help; the distraction just made my jolting reactions all the more unanticipated.

"She'll be all right, Cal. We'll keep her safe." I didn't need the verbal reassurance. It felt shallow. And it didn't help that Niko was in the bathroom doctoring me up instead of with his own lover. It just proved all the more that no one, not Promise not Cassie, would trump me on his list. And usually I accepted that as unchangeable, but when I wasn't the immediate target I kinda wished he would hop off the brother train for a little while. Granted, Promise had shooed him out of their room once she settled down to rest. Apparently, sleep was the best means for a vampire to recuperate. The ointment Robin had brought to her within twenty minutes (when it took at least that long to get to his apartment and back) would help as well, but, ultimately, she wanted privacy.

The puck was brisk in his brief leave from the apartment probably more for Cassie's protection than concern for Promise. He even made it a point to tell Niko that the burns were not as extensive as they looked and the lady vamp would heal up nicely within a day or so. Her porcelain skin wasn't permanently damaged. So exile, reassurance, and brotherly love brought Niko to drag me into my bathroom to look me over. Face was first. I could feel a sharp piece of gun working its way closer and closer to my eye.

I was calm only because I could see Castiella through a double mirror reflection –facing the bathroom mirror, which reflected an image of my bedroom mirror, which reflected Cassie sitting on the bed, curled up in the sheets, with one of Niko's books. Something about her unfocused gaze had me believe she wasn't reading it. Robin was beside her on my side of the bed, legs stretched out before him and arm draped over Cassie's shoulders. He might not have immediately run to her aid in the restaurant, but that was when we were only facing Grimm. He believed she could fight Grimm right now (I still had my doubts), but the Auphe were a different story. Both the puck and I knew Cassie wasn't ready for that. Hell, I wasn't ready for that. And what they said brought stones to roll around in my stomach. I wanted to talk to Cas about my assumptions, but if I was wrong…the weight of that would be crushing.

I slid my gaze toward Niko again, trying my best not to squint my eye as he caught another piece in the tweezers and scalpel and dislodged it from my skin. "I never noticed before, but Robin really wasn't exaggerating when he claimed he could hear the gears turning in your head. Only it isn't gears." Niko paused, flipped the scalpel around, and poked then end at the tense muscle of my jaw. "You're grinding your teeth."

The Leandros gray eyes met, both steady and unwavering. "There are some things…said that are making me," I stopped for a moment trying to come up with the right word. "Fear I was wrong about something."

Niko tilted his head, then my chin. He worked at a tiny spec of a piece just under the curve of my jaw. "If these things said were spoken by Grimm or the Auphe, how much credence do they really have?"

"Depends on why they said these things."

Niko dropped his hand to his lap. In former dwellings he was usually able to sit on the edge of the tub while I perched on the toilet lid, but now the room was too large. He had brought in my desk chair to steady himself. I was still on the toilet lid though; made disposing of debris and used bandages in the sink a little easier, even though Niko had to turn around to toss them there. "Out with it."

I took in a deep breath, sneaking a peek in the mirror over his shoulder. Cassie had sagged against Robin. The book was closed, but her eyes weren't. I would have been jealous – Robin was cuddling her and kissing her crown – but for the first time I could see their relationship for what it was. If Niko had had a little sister instead of a brother I could see him holding her like that, kissing her crown like that. I knew they couldn't hear me if I spoke low enough, so I did.

"Grimm said I was wrong about a lot of things, right after I told him Cassie and Dante were dead and he couldn't recreate them."

Niko looked to his side in the way he did when processing something. "At the time we hadn't known about Castiella being alive so you would have been wrong about that."

"That is not a _lot_ of things, but even if he was referring to whatever else I'd said that night that doesn't explain how he even found out about Cassie." My brother's blond eyebrows lifted in agreement there. He didn't try to explain that away with talk of the Vigil or whatever other far-fetched scenario he could come up with. "He also said I created a child in my likeness. How would he even know what Dante looked like?"

"Either he was watching you longer than we suspected or perhaps he was speaking with less stipulation than we assume. A child in your likeness could simply be alluding to you playing god as he is." I shook my head, though that had occurred to me as well. Grimm wasn't usually so vague. With a quick motion, Niko flicked off the last piece from my face with his bare fingers, then handed me the some disinfecting ointment. Cap off so I could use it with my left hand, while he took up my right and inspected it. "What exactly are you fearing, Cal?"

I dabbed the side of my bleeding face with a damp towel, trying to clean it up before I slathered on the ointment. "You never found his body."

Niko's eyes shot up to fix on mine, he didn't even let go of my hand. "Cal…the warehouse was cinders when we searched." He didn't ask how I knew he went to search for Dante after the fact, he didn't explain himself. Pretty sure both of us had been aware of the others knowledge for a time now.

"You didn't find the body and peris can survive spinal damage."

"A _grown_ peri, Cal. Dante was barely two."

"We aren't making excuses to make me feel like I wasn't a complete and utter failure as a father anymore, Nik. You never found the body, he _could_ have survived that, Grimm knew about him without me telling him, said he was in my _likeness_, and the Auphe said 'he is ours' before staking claim on all our children." I stood up from the toilet, shaking Niko off my hand. My brother didn't look so convinced I was crazy anymore. He just stared at me as I leaned over the sink, chucking the washcloth in the bowl. "Cassie said she saw a farm house and, yeah, she was looped up on sedatives, half starved, and going through withdrawal, but there _was_ farm house. That was set on fire. That some peri, who we thought was disillusioned at the time, claimed _another _half Auphe dragged her and the other peris to."

Niko shifted in the chair to face out from my pervious seat. He didn't get up, though. "Cal—"

I waved him off, unable to stop my voice from rising. "I smelled Cassie there, Niko. I thought it was nostalgia and Robin's non-stop word vomit about her that brought me to smell something that wasn't there, but Cas said she saw a farm house, that she saw _me_ in that farm house and then she told me that I smelled like foxgloves. Dante smelled like foxgloves."

Niko straightened on his seat, eyes flitting from me to his side. I glanced into the mirror and saw Cassie was no longer in Robin's arms on the bed, but standing directly behind me in the threshold. Her expression hadn't changed though, still slightly unfocused and deeply morose. "Which means he's with the Auphe," she said. Calm, steady, but ready to burst. She got it. She followed the same train of thought as I did, jumped to the same grisly conclusion.

I turned to face her. I should have known better than to try and keep this between Niko and I. Of course, she would be thinking the same thing. There were too many indications and hints pointing to the inevitable. A nightmare I used to have when he was a baby: the Auphe took him from me and raised him to be the monster we were all fated to become.

"If he's alive," Cassie started. She had that look in her eyes. I'd seen it too many times before. Every turn that involved our bastard side of the family, she disappeared. I crossed the bathroom and grabbed her up by both arms, ignoring the pain that arced through my fingers and up to my elbow.

"You are not leaving me, Cassie. Don't even say it."

Her mahogany eyes narrowed as they lifted to mine; more focused than they had been since we came home. "Let me finish," she challenged. She didn't remove my hands though. "If Dante is alive we need to reprioritize. Once I'm well we search for him, even if that means visiting Tumulus. When we find him, we keep him safe until he's well. Then we find and kill Grimm, after that the Auphe, and if either attack before we seek them out so be it, but I'm not ignoring my son for the likes of Grimm and vengeance upon him."

She used 'we' in almost every sentence there and I couldn't argue. I didn't need to. She took into account her less than stellar condition at the moment. She recognized what searching for Dante could mean location-wise. She was thinking clearly and rationally. Reprioritizing was fine by me as long as this family stayed together. Granted a trip to Tumulus would factor out my brother, Robin, and Promise, but I was fine with that. They wouldn't survive among the Auphe, Cassie and I might. And to obtain my son I was willing to risk it. I nodded to Cassie; kissed her to seal the deal.

"Nova," Niko said quietly to my side. He leaned over his knees, obviously not keen on some portions of our immediate decision, but not voicing them at the moment. "The peri the Inquoia clan mentioned. Her mother claimed that she was taken by another half Auphe. We're assuming that is Dante, but why are we assuming she was _taken_. She might have gone with him and if she had she might be our ticket to finding him."

Good old Niko, confident that Dante – our littlest Leandros – was as sane as me or Cassie. I hated to think it, but if the Auphe had him all this time in Tumulus my son was going to be bat-shit psycho. That was a lot of years with them even if it was only eight months to us. Dante was my son, which meant to Niko that he was strong-willed and capable of human emotion. He was a sweet, reckless, child, but I knew how the Auphe could corrupt a mind. Cassie knew even better than I did. We weren't as hopeful. If Dante took Nova, she was as likely dead as she would have been under Grimm.

The only solace I could find in this, with certainty, was that Dante denied Grimm. Grimm wouldn't have claimed Dante was working with the Auphe if my boy had shown any favor toward the red-eyed prick. Dante disregarded Grimm's crusade, just as I had. That didn't necessarily mean he was like-minded to me, but it was something. It meant he wasn't as far gone as Grimm, but it also could've meant that he held loyalty to the Auphe.

"We start there then," I answered. There was no need to burst Niko's bubble and no need to go to Tumulus yet. "If Dante is the half Auphe mentioned at the farm house then the Auphe are letting him out of his cage for whatever reason. Maybe to join the hunt. The bastards are certainly enjoying the game of hunting the Bae. They seem to be just as irritated by Grimm's efforts as we are. They want to eliminate the Bae, what better practice for a young and upcoming world ender than that?"

"I'll call Ishiah," Goodfellow said, joining in the conversation. He wasn't in the bathroom, but close enough to hear and put in his two cents. Not that I minded. We had the same goal as the peris now: find Nova. No harm in pooling our information.

"May I ask one question," Niko said. It was almost in hesitance. As if he feared how Cassie or I would react or maybe just knew he wouldn't like what we had to say. "Why would they Auphe take the bodies of the Bae with them?"

I lifted my eyebrows and glanced over at Cassie, who gave me a knowing smile. Well that was a simple answer and yeah, Niko wouldn't like it, but I gave it to him anyway. "Dinner."

Niko pursed his lips and sighed. "I'm going to check on Promise, could you bandage up his hand for me, Cassie?"

"Of course."

He stood from the chair and motioned for me to sit back down. Like a good dog I obeyed and held my arm up to give better view, also to make fun of Niko's silent demand by pretending to give Cassie 'a paw'. Niko paused in the doorway as he shifted positions with my girlfriend. He caught her eyes, glanced down at me, and showed that hesitation again. Cassie prompted him to speak with his name in question form. "How about this doesn't end up the way most private moments end up between the two of you?" I felt my brow twist up in confusion. The way things usually ended up with me in Cassie were pretty dismal, but I doubted death and dismemberment would occur when patching up a busted hand.

"The raucous sex, I mean. Don't do it." He turned from the room casually and called over his shoulder. "You're liable to break each other if you keep it up."

I laughed; it felt good. Cassie snapped her fingers across her body in that 'aww, shucks' manner. "Figured out my plot, didn't he." I motioned for her to come over to me with my hand that wasn't a blazing ache of ow. She approached, leaned over for a short kiss, then sat in Niko's vacated chair and placed my busted hand in her lap. "He's right though. We have been getting it on pretty intensely."

"Making up for missed opportunities," I countered. Her hands were much smaller than my brother's; dainty, but just as graceful. She didn't need the tweezers either. Just one Auphe claw, half extended to slip under the edges of the shrapnel to leverage them out, one by one. I watched her just as steadily as I watched her in the mirror. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Her full lips curled into an amused smile. "You say that like you're reluctantly asking your wife about her bad day."

"Well, by our standards this was a pretty bad day," I responded, flexing my hand when she asked me to despite the agony of it. The pain was needed right now. A reminder, maybe a punishment. Dante had been with the Auphe; I was certain of that. And I let it happen. It was my stubborn will that kept the boy with us, walking into a potential (and obvious) trap instead of stowing him away with a very capable healer friend who could stop a man's heart without touching him. My inability to gate while concussed and being terrorized by the Auphe, got him mortally hurt and snatched up by the bastards while I was bleeding out.

Cassie could have taken care of herself in there. She could have gated away from it all. I should have trusted her and let her do her thing or left Dante with Catcher and Rafferty. I should have never brought him to that warehouse.

_Abandoned and left for dead at two. He learned from the beginning who he was to rely on. Himself and only himself. His greatest strength will be that._

"Share some of that blame, yeah?" Cassie murmured. She brushed her thumb over my knuckles to further attract my attention. Her dark eyes searched mine, forcing a smile that didn't reach them. "We fucked up and we can't change that, but he's still our son. Even if he doesn't want to be with us for what we did, I want him to be away from the Auphe. He deserves that much. His own choice."

"And if he chooses to try and kill us?"

It took her a long time to answer that. Her eyes flickering down, her head shaking in an almost negative fashion. It was something we need to consider and come to terms with, regardless to how much it horrified. "Then he chooses to fail. I'm willing to give him a couple attempts on our lives before he figures it all out."

That option hadn't occurred to me. For me I was thinking his life or ours, not stop him, smack him on the ass, and tell him to reconsider his actions. Niko had done several different renditions of that over the years with me and my roller coaster psychosis with the Auphe side. I nodded in acceptance and agreement. We could even try to tie him down and literally smack some sense into him, but it was obvious he could gate. That would be the only reason the Auphe kept him around.

"I don't think Nova is the way to go though," Cassie muttered. She brushed her fingers over mine to remove some flakes of dried blood. I watched her lean over the sink to pull out the wash cloth I'd discarded. Luckily, none of the lacerations were serious enough to need stitches this time, but that didn't mean it wasn't painful when the water seeped under the layers of skin. I waited for her to continue with that thought. Nova did seem to be a shot in the dark, but there wasn't much for us to go on. "I think we need to interrogate Grimm."

"Grimm? They guy whose ball you just tore off? I doubt he's going to be very cooperative."

Cassie eyed me with a wicked half-grin, a little rough with the next piece of gun she picked out of the heel of my palm. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to rip anything off. Although, I'm pretty sure I literally busted one of his balls, on top of circumcising him a little violently, so I don't think he'll be seeding anytime soon, but if given the time he will recuperate."

I cringed. He was an ass; I wanted him deader than dead, but any man would flinch at the concept of family jewels being slashed up or off. As I said before, it both made me proud and scared the hell out of me. Castiella would always be stronger and smarter than me, which meant she could just as easily kill me at any point in time as I could kill her if I lost my mind to the Auphe. I had no intention of every putting her in such a rage that she would castrate me, but the image would probably still haunt me. "I still don't think he'll be too happy to see us."

"I still think its better to try and find him now when he's icing his balls than to wait until his voice drops back down." I snickered at the new image she painted. I made me stretch across the distance between us to take her mouth in a short kiss.

"We don't know where he is, Cas. I'm not too keen on looking for trouble when you're like this. For that matter, I don't like the idea of you running around trying to find Dante when the Auphe and the Bae hunting us." Cassie lifted her eyebrows, even leaned back with her chin tilted down incredulously. I countered with a clenching of my jaw. "What? If you weren't pregnant, I'd be watching to make sure you didn't high-tail it out on your own because it's 'too dangerous' for me."

"So you think I'll be game for you to do it instead?"

"No," I argued. "I intend to do this as a family, without being a complete idiot about it. We do this Niko's way. Safely, with research and shit." I cupped her chin with my hands, playing my mouth against her pouting lips. "Because I don't want to be the fuck-up parents again."

"I wouldn't really call your brother's tactics safe, but I see your point." She pried my injured hand from her cheek and dabbing the wet cloth over it, before taking up a rolled bandage and started winding it around the cleaned powder abrasions. "Are we crazy?"

"Yeah, but we haven't been given much choice not to be." She laughed at that. Even if I heard the sound less than few hours ago at the restaurant, it felt like days. I shook her from her task and kissed her again. We fell into this one a little more intensely, on the edge of our respective seats, delving deeper in search of sanity in one another.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have an update if you would like to hear it," Robin called from the threshold. He held up his phone as a signal for us to depart from the bathroom and into the common area of my side of the penthouse.

I was surprised Goodfellow kept his conversation with Ishiah so short. Even more shocked that the peri answered at such a late hour, even if two time zones separated us. Stranger yet, how a creature that had lived as long as Robin had still bothered getting the newest and fanciest technology. He had to have seen how quickly it became obsolete, but he still brandished a crystal clear screened smart phone with a high-end brand name embossed on the back. Whatever, he had the money; how he spent it wasn't my problem.

Finishing up on the dressings on my hand, Cassie lifted from the chair, taking it with her as we left the bathroom. Apparently Robin was still on the phone, because he pressed it to his ear again as we trailed after him into the living room. "Yes, I'll get them updated. Will you be returning from your merry pilgrimage any time in the immediate future?"

I flopped down on the leather couch, arm draped over the back. Cassie slipped in against my chest and under my arm like the last puzzle piece in a set. Her arm wrapped around the front of my waist. We waited for Niko to emerge from his room. She almost fell asleep against me during the time it took for Goodfellow to get off the phone and Niko to finally leave his lover to sleep.

"So, the Assembly has managed to find several more of Grimm's love nests. Unfortunately, most were void of life. He seems to be purging the land like a god of rapture and probably fancies himself as much."

"He's cleaning up is all," I argued. "Cassie is what he wants. He probably won't even bother with other peris after this."

"Have they found Nova?" Niko cut in, leaning against the corner wall. Behind him was the darkened hallway that separated my living room from his and Promise's bedroom; obviously, with me safe and sated his hyper-protective ways had shifted to his lover. Somehow I doubted she would put up with as much coddling as I did. Man, that was going to be fun to watch.

"They haven't," Robin answered. "No sign of her in any of the caverns. Or Dante."

The silence between us rang for at least a minute before Goodfellow spoke up again, scratching at the back of his neck in an uncharacteristic show of uncertainty. "If you wish to track Dante down, I don't believe Nova is your answer. She is a young peri and from what Ishiah has overheard she has the spirit of an unpredictable teenager. The fledgling had been itching to leave her strict clan's nest for years, she might have only used this opportunity to effectively disappear like a ghost."

"What does Nova look like?" Cassie murmured from her curled position against me. Robin pulled out his shiny phone again, flipping through commands to pull up the image the Assembly had sent all of us. It showed a girl that could easily have played Pocahontas in Disney's live-action movie. Strikingly dark eyes, highlighted with thick black lashes, sharp features that demanded to be royalty, and skin so flawless it looked to be painted on with cream and clay. She was also obviously young. Ishiah had given her the age of sixteen and she looked it. I finally understood the term jailbait and I wasn't too happy with that milestone.

Cassie squinted at the image, then sat up and took the phone from Robin. "Is she a healer?"

I glanced up at Goodfellow, catching the little tick of surprise in his brow. "Yeah. A young healer, but her clan seemed to think she was promising."

My girlfriend handed Robin his phone back and took in a long breath through her parted lips. "I can't be sure…I can't be sure of anything that happened over the last few months, but I feel like I recognize her. Like she was in the farm house too and I know someone was healing me there. There's no other way for my broken bones to have reset within a few days." She glanced down at her hands, her red and gold hair slipping partially over her shoulders with the motion. I moved without thinking to push it back, revealing her face to me and brushing my fingers over the cap of her shoulder. "In the cavern –I was half-cocked I know this, but I subconsciously I also knew what Grimm was doing to those women. I fought him, I apparently fought him as an Auphe…there was one peri that kept taking me aside after Grimm was done and healing me. They spoke in perian as if I wouldn't understand, but her kin spat at me and condemned me because they knew I was the Harbinger. This peri…effectively told them to fuck off. It was the same peri, the same smell, but." She laughed lightly. "I don't mean to sound racist, but when your vision is blurred from pain and drugs they all kinda look the same. I don't know if it was Nova."

"So you think Nova was in the farm house with you and Dante?" Cassie nodded at my question. "What do you think that means? That she's helping him? After a half Auphe attacked her clan, raped her and her family, and held them captive for how many months you think she'll be happy to oblige another half Auphe?"

"She aided me," Cassie defended, leaning back from her knees so she could rise over my slouched position. "She knew I was half Auphe and she healed me all the same."

"You defended her."

"But I didn't get us out of there. Someone else did."

I stopped countering at that. The Assembly had said one of the post-traumatic peri females was going on about another half Auphe gating them out of the caves and to the farm house. We all thought she was crazy, but if Dante was alive he could have the ability to do so. I just didn't want to get my hopes up that he would have the inclination and kind-heart to do so. "We're jumping to a lot of conclusions. How strongly do you actually believe that our son, who has been with the Auphe for an undetermined amount of years, actively saved a dozen peris – a race the Auphe still despise – got himself a healer girlfriend and is now off saving the world from Grimm?"

Cassie pressed her full lips together. She let off another sigh through her nose, dropped back on the couch, under my arm again, and shrugged. "It's a nice thought, you have to admit." I did admit that. I knocked her opposite shoulder to bring her temple to my lips and nudged my nose there in comfort. I wanted to believe Cassie, but she wasn't coherent at the time. She could have seen pink elephants playing poker and probably thought it really happened. If she had been all we had to go on regarding Dante, his continued existence probably wouldn't even be considered, which honestly put a little more credibility to other things she claimed. It still had suspicions when it came to Nova though and I doubted Dante had her as a companion.

"All of this is inconsequential," I grumbled. The group looked at me, each one ready to refute that statement. "Yeah, it is, don't argue. Discussing what ifs, that is all we're doing right now. And I know I'm more of an action-oriented guy, but you have to admit all of this is just speculation. Regardless to how many rose-colored, flowery-meadow, scenarios we can come up with it won't change the fact that we have no means of figuring out the truth until we find him."

That effectively deflated the room, but I wasn't sad for it. 'What ifs' did us no good. I hated the plan and research part of any mission, but this was just stupid. "Now Loman do you actually have an alternative to offer since you think Nova's a dead end."

"Well, I'm not as certain she is now, but regardless we can't track her down any better than the Assembly can. I think we should allow the feathered knights of the white shield handle that side. If they find her, Ishiah will contact me. I've mentioned to him our 'rose-colored, flowery-meadow' hopes of Dante being alive and he will be sensitive to that subject as well." I let him make the dig at my insensitivity without comment. I didn't care what he thought about it anyway. If everyone was going to clasp their hands to the sky and pray for Dante to be the perfect little angel, I was going to be at ground zero catching them if they were wrong.

"I suggest," Robin went on, pointing a finger at Niko in warning, "and no over-protective brother glares from the handsome blond please, that we track Grimm down and get answers from him."

Cassie sat up a little straighter, eyes on me and palm motioning to her best friend as if to say 'see, he gets it'. I shook my head and wondered, not for the first time, how these two reckless beings survived their friendship if they goaded each other into doing these half-sane things. I glanced over at Niko for help, but my brother was looking way too pensive for my taste. "Nik, seriously? He almost got Cassie, _again._"

"Yes, but you are a fair shot, Cal. His knees will not be holding his weight for at least forty-eight hours and with the damage Castiella imposed on him," ha, even Niko had to cringe at that thought of my girlfriend's Lorena Bobbitt attack. "He will be vulnerable right now. Honestly, if we wish to kill him, now would be the best time. I don't think it would hurt to ask him a few questions while we were at it. _If _we were able to stop him from gating."

"Furthermore," Robin cooed and started walking between the kitchen and the living room with measured steps like he was lecturing to a class. "I know we were toying with idea that Grimm had already met Dante, but I believe that is a solid assumption. Grimm attacked peris before he went after the fabled Harbinger—"

"He didn't even know what I was until I fought him. His idiot Bae were the ones that broke me out of the Vigil facility. They probably just thought of the lab as a fun challenge."

Goodfellow motioned to Cassie, giving her a bow for her assistance in this derailed discussion. "Which means he thought Cal had slept with a peri to produce Dante. We know Dante has wings and claws and the gorgeous gray eyes of the Leandros family. He might have gathered Dante was Cal's son, but concluded prematurely that Dante's mother was solely peri. If he had been watching you or if he'd gotten the information from the Vigil he would know immediately that Cassie was the Harbinger. So conclusively, he met Dante first and could very well know where he's hiding."

"Amazing observations, but how does that help us find the bastard?"

"Well, grouchy, that is you and Cassie's forte, now isn't it." He lifted his eyebrows in challenge and gave me a dazzling smile. "About time you pulled your weight in a form other than constant scowls and grousing."

"The Vigil," Cassie interjected before I decided to show Robin my many other skills. She turned to Niko. "They don't know you have me and they've directly asked you to assist them. If we can keep up the front of ignorance perhaps you can keep the lines open there. They have been monitoring Grimm's movements and the Bae as well. Even if Grimm is in hiding licking his wounds—"

"Gross," I commented. Though if he could that would be pretty impressive.

"Follow the Bae and we'll find Grimm," Niko agreed, all parties ignoring me as I suffered through mental images of Grimm's flexibility. "I'll open the channel again. Cautiously."

Cassie eased back against me once that plan of action came to agreement. She stifled a yawn, but I could tell the night was wearing on her. I coasted my hand over her soft hair, ready for a siesta as well. "Robin, you mind hanging around? We could use another watch tonight."

He seemed startled that I would ask, but with Cassie still healing and now Promise was injured, Nik and I were going to need the extra pair of eyes and ears. "Of course, nothing I would enjoy more than hearing you and Cas incessantly fornicate while my lover abandons me for the family that exiled him."

"Again, gross." I pulled up from the couch and guided Cassie up with me. It wasn't a gentle touch and she didn't argue with my urging, which was a sure sign that she was too tired to even scold me for my silent command.

She and I went into my bedroom, while Niko retired to his room without conflict. Robin flopped down on the now vacated couch and turned on the television. I just hoped he didn't rake up the bill with skinimax movies. Niko still didn't believe that it wasn't me last time. Contrary to Goodfellow's inappropriate comments about Cassie and my sexual activities, she barely managed more than a lingering goodnight kiss before promptly passing out. I was behind her shortly, despite my best efforts to watch over her. My left hand was resting loosely over the Glock I had in reserve. I just hoped it was enough if we had any unexpected visitors.


	23. Chapter 15 - Cal

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**CAL**

I blamed Goodfellow for my nightmares that night. I could hear the television as I went to sleep and whatever cheesy musical he was watching cause my brain to choreograph an entire routine for the Auphe to dance to, singing about all the ways they wished to kill me. Yeah, that was a freakin' hilarious image right? Except they were using Cassie as a visual prop, gutting her from naked sternum to genitalia, spreading the skin and pulling out organs as they named them in song. Then my son, the handsome mini-me that he was, trotted sideways down a set of marble stairs with no visible destination, reprising the song and driving an ice pick through my chest –after an amazing display of acrobatics and improvisation dance, of course.

I woke with a gasp and swallowed back the bile that congealed in my mouth from the visceral images lingering behind my eyelids. Beside me there was a tiny little giggle, muffled by the creases of a pillow. I turned my head to catch the reassuring image of my girlfriend, in one piece, lying on our bed, and trying desperately not to laugh. "What?"

She shook her head and hid her face in the pillow. Her shoulder shook with contained amusement. "What? Why are you laughing?"

"You have a pretty good voice," she teased, pushing down the pillow just enough to mock me.

"Fuck, I was singing?" Perfect, how was I going to explain that without sounding like an idiot? I groaned and flipped over onto my stomach to hide shamefully in my own pillow. Cassie climbed out of the sheets, her warmth spread over my bare back as she cuddled against it; I would have appreciated her bare supple bosom, instead of one of my worn tee shirts over said bosom, but whatever. "Please, don't ask."

"I won't," she whispered, kissing the shell of my ear. "Didn't seem like a nice dream anyway."

"It wasn't."

She didn't remove herself from her relaxed position on my back, but I didn't mind it much. Her warmth and scent assured me that something like that would never happen. Well, the evisceration part, I mean. Of course, the Auphe would never break out in song. The only thing that got them going was the reverb from huge amps and that was because it once gave me the kinetic energy to open a gate to the beginning of the world where they would rewrite history with them on top.

Cassie's death, while not as impossible, wouldn't happen on my watch…or hers for that matter. Just seeing how much she had recovered from Grimm's attacks and the Bae bites was enough to make me believe we could take the bastard out. We almost had him in the restaurant too and he had the upper hand there.

I wriggled my arm out from under both of us and snaked it around her waist to pull her beside me instead of on top. She molded her body against mine and eagerly accepted my kiss. We didn't stop with the kiss either; somehow I was incapable of resisting the urge to screw as soon as I touched her. The door was closed this time, but we still kept the noise to a minimum, mostly because I was trying to take Niko's scolding to heart and not drive her into the mattress. The sex was just as intense without the desperation though. Slow and steady actually won the race pretty quickly on both accounts too. We ended up in the same position; Cassie curled up against my side with me half on my stomach. Only now we were a little out of breath and a bit sweaty.

I rolled onto my side so I could trail my fingers over her body. While she didn't sport an hourglass figure as slender as she was, when she lied on her side she had the most delicious curve between her ribcage and her ass. The kind you saw in overtly sexual ads where they were trying to sell a diamond or a watch, but you were really just gawking at a round butt and enticing curves. I loved following it, only now my hand couldn't resist changing course to graze over her soft belly. It still terrified me. Knowing a child was growing in there. Right now it probably wasn't more than the size of a bean, but did it have eyes? A pulse? Hands or feet? This was new territory for me. The lesson of the birds and the bees never really went this far, because, well, it was never supposed to go this far.

Dante came to me a bloodied mess in diapers, but he could stand, he could run –he could run damn fast when he was on a destructive rampage. This baby…it was coming out wrinkled, red, and looking like a human ET or an albino crocodile. Either way it was coming out completely defenseless.

"I'm sorry," Cassie whispered. I glanced up at her face. While I had been holding my palm over her stomach she had been drifting her fingers through my hair; I hadn't realized how long we were silent or that my expression warranted the remorseful one she showed me. "I shouldn't have denied you this with Dante."

"You were running for your life. It would have been rather difficult to make a pit stop to tell me I was about to be a father." She didn't seem convinced. I sighed, dropping my head to the pillow. My hand was still covering the soft skin of her stomach and she remained propped up on one elbow over me. It gave me a pleasant view of her adorably round face, but also her swollen breasts. That was a bit of a down side; I couldn't really play with my favorite toys since Cassie complained they were sore. I supposed I needed to be thankful she still wanted to sleep with me, but damn it I loved her boobs.

"I should have tried."

"It worked out, Cas. That part at least. Really…I'm not sure if I would have been ready for that bomb if it happened any sooner." She bent over to kiss me, taking me by the chin to make it a deep and extensive one. The 'I love yous' were unspoken this time, but just as obvious as words. I smirked as our lips parted; I needed something to distract me from taking her to the bed again and now I had another insatiable need to entice her with: food. "Breakfast?"

"Mmm, hell yes. Shower, first. I want to go out for breakfast," Cassie told me. She dotted a kiss to my wrinkling nose and scooted off the bed without waiting for me to reply. I didn't like the idea of leaving the apartment. Every time we did it felt like something went down and I almost lost her. "Don't look at me like that. I don't do well with cages, Caliban. Even gilded ones with three thousand square feet and a sexy man servant thrown in. I'm not staying cooped up in this apartment."

"Man servant?" I countered, trying to sound offended. Castiella smiled over her pale shoulder, the lines of her spine and shoulder blades curving in an aesthetic line to her round little ass.

"Don't be insulted. I was talking about Niko." She ignored my feigned expression of shock and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Well, that wouldn't stop me. I tossed the sheets from my body and followed after her.

"Hey, as long as you don't have sex with the man servant I'm fine with that." Cassie had turned on the shower, not at all surprised I came in after her. The amazing thing about my lover was that not only didn't she care about the awful and dark things that I'd done, but she also didn't care when I took a piss in front of her. And I kept talking as I relieved myself. "And I'm not looking to cage you here, Cas. We just don't have the greatest track record when it comes to family outings. So I think we should have breakfast here."

"You really want to argue with me with your dick out?" I glared at her for the remark. I never intended to betray her or enrage her to the point that she would go for little Cal's throat, but that didn't change that I now knew she was capable of such an act. "Too soon?" she asked, assuring me it was a joke. I nodded. "Sorry, I thought it was funny. I would never part you from him, you're too good a team."

I snorted as she pulled the shower curtain closed so not to get water everywhere. I joined her after dropping the lid, knowing better than to flush while she was under the shower spray. Even in a high end penthouse that was still a plumbing issue. "When I crack the first joke you'll know its fair game."

"You cracked the first joke last night."

"At Grimm's expense not mine," I argued and took her up by the waist. She apologized with a brief make-out session as we cleaned off, eventually pushing me up against the wall and apologizing to little Cal as well. I tried to reciprocate, but she evaded –told me she needed a rest from the ravishing. So I explored her curves in a more innocent (if you could call it that) way; I even used her body wash, though I hated the way it hid her natural scent from me. Apparently, Promise had brought her more than just a few pregnancy tests. Now Cassie had her own toothbrush, soap, shampoo and conditioner, all in my bathroom. My bachelor life was over, but with her lips to mine and her body pliant under my massaging hands I wasn't unhappy about this…yet. There was bound to be some bad shit, but when our bad shit was usually avoiding death from all sides, I doubted the annoyance of a hair curler left plugged in was going to piss me off all that much.

"So, if it's a boy," I murmured against her neck as my scrubbing led down to her belly, again reminding me of the life within. "We're naming him Conner."

"Conner?"

I held her tight, her back to my front, so she couldn't squirm out of my hold to face me. "You and Nik got to name the last one it's my turn."

She laughed, craning her neck back to catch my eye. "Why Conner?"

"Come on, Sarah Conner, John Conner fighting against Terminators from the future as played by the Auphe, trying to overthrow Skynet played by the Vigil." I rolled my eyes at her humoring smile. "Please tell me you've seen this."

"I have and I like it. What about a girl?" She managed to weasel out of my grasp and turned around to loop her arms around my waist. I pressed my mouth to one side in feigned thought. I still hadn't figured that one out.

"Sarah seems too plain for a half-Auphe, but there is some charm to that too. I'm on the fence about a couple others Leeloo, Nikita, Natasha, Alice—" She cut me off when her arms were suddenly coiled up around my head, yanking me down to her mouth. The kiss was fiery and bruising; whatever instigated that was anchored to quite a bit more emotion than I was intending to create. She literally stole my breath away for a second or two, leaving me panting when we parted. Her arms drifted to my shoulders, then my nape again. "Cas?"

"You're really with me on this, aren't you?" Ah, that was it. I leaned over to turn off the shower; the water would turn cold soon and I didn't want it hitting me below the belt after Cassie got me all riled with that kiss.

"You need to stop doubting me. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to be that baby daddy that can't handle it and abandons his family so don't insult me by implying that." I pulled her hands from my neck so I could squeeze them in my own. "I guarantee nothing for the future, whether this thing between us stays fucking awesome or blows up in our faces, but I will always be there for this child. No matter the father."

"I like Alice," she whispered. It was more of an offering than an apology, but it was enough. I ticked a finger under her chin to lift her full pout to my lips. I heard the door open the moment of contact and, without any regard for anything other than himself, Goodfellow knocked open the curtain.

"Hey, they found Nova," he said, paused, and raked his mischievous green eyes over both our naked forms. Without skipping a beat he looked up at Cassie with a skeptical lift in his eyebrows. "Really? _That_ is satisfying?"

Cassie reached out, grabbed Robin by the skull and shoved him toward the door. "Out! We'll be there in a minute." She caught my glance down at my goods even if I tried to keep it subtle and quick and gave me a look of disbelief. "Don't listen to him. It perfect, Cal."

"Well, that's doubtful," I countered, watching her grab a towel and leave the bathroom. I heard another door slam and figured she had closed what Robin had unceremoniously left open. I wasn't perfect, who was? Even a puck's dick wasn't perfect considering some women (or men) didn't like it the length of a third leg. He always made those comments though, and he knew it grated at my ego. He'd had Cassie in sexual positions before and as much as she genuinely denied him, I still worried having the king Casanova around her at all time. I grabbed another towel and followed her out into the main bedroom, calling to see if she had left the bedroom with that door slam or was just where I couldn't see her. "But I do satisfy you…right?"

Cassie let off an aggravated sigh; it came from the closet. Within, Cassie was pulling on a pair of Promise's forgotten jeans and a sweater, also borrowed from the vampire. Why did it turn me on so much that she slipped it on without a bra? Why was sex pretty much all I could think about when I was around her? "Cas?"

"Of course, you satisfy me, Cal. Why else would I be so eager to hop on it any place and time?" She ran a hand over her face and sighed again, this time much more softly. "Cali, why are you so self-conscious all of the sudden?"

I picked up a pair of jeans from my closet floor and yanked them on, so I wasn't self-consciously standing in the buff before while discussing this. "Goodfellow over shared some things. About the two of you."

Cassie handed me a clean shirt, then crossed her arms under her chest. "Lovely. What bullshit did he make up?"

"You never had sex, but you have done other things…of the oral variety."

Cassie's dark eyes flickered up to the ceiling. Her head bowed in frustration, before lifting to meet my gaze and ticking off one finger. "Although I don't think I should have to explain myself for something that I did before your _ancestors_ we born I will humor you. One, I was drunk. Two, I was depressed. I'd tried to kill myself that night, did he mention that?"

I felt my chest muscles lurch. "No." I'd never though Castiella would consider such an option. The Harbinger I knew was all fire and sunlight, but it took a few thousand years to get there. Still…suicide didn't become her.

"Three, you can't possibility think you could be better at cunnilingus than a being that probably was the first to _teach _cunnilingus. Four, I prefer internal stimulation and your dick hits that button pretty much every time. Five, Robin is a good friend of mine, but he is way too cocky for me to have sex with him and I mean that for all senses of the word. Is that enough?"

I nodded, trying not to smile. She probably could have just told me number four and I would have been satisfied with her answer, but she had every right to rant for a minute or two. She had a life before me, she had sex before me, maybe had multiple partners at the same time, but that was before me. I smiled to myself and held up one finger to the five she had splayed. "One question." She raised her eyebrows to tell me to go ahead. "From the day you met me, and I mean in Tumulus, have you slept with anyone else?"

Cassie's lips parted to say something, maybe an argument or an actual name, but then she paused. Her full lips pulled together in their usual pout and her chin tilted down as she considered that. I already knew the answer, or at least I was ninety percent sure she hadn't. I just wanted to hear it from her; that one last ego stroke that would last me well into our relationship together. "No, actually. Not consensually anyway." Cassie smiled too, when she saw my confidence. "You already knew that though."

She tugged me forward by the shirt I had shrugged on, grinning against my lips. "Is _that_ enough?"

"Yup."

In the living room, Robin was on the buttery leather chair that matched the couch. His long arms draped over the back and his curly-haired head tilted to one side as he waited dramatically for us. Niko was back to his vigilant position at the threshold of theirs and mine. Promise obviously hadn't emerged from her room yet, which made me a little concerned. Niko gave me a quick nod with that reassuring look in his eyes to attempt to wash that concern away. Yeah, didn't do jack, but at least I knew she was recuperating by that look and not declining.

"So they found Nova," I prompted when Robin continued to pout on the chair. Cassie stepped over his feet propped on the coffee table and made herself comfortable on the couch. I decided to follow her lead.

"This morning," Goodfellow confirmed. He had that not good news expression on, which made his next words inevitable. "Dead."

"Unsurprising," I muttered as I sat next to my girlfriend. I'd expected that the moment we rolled up to the incinerated farm. When dealing with Auphe very few lived. "The question is whodunit."

"The questions are who killed her, where she was found, what condition was she in, and how long had she been dead," Niko amended.

Robin nodded to my brother and crossed his ankles, then his arms. He looked like a petulant child; maybe Ishiah said he wouldn't be home as promptly as the puck would've liked. "She was found just outside of her mother's house. Her immediate family wasn't present due to the clan's fear of a second attack from Grimm and his minions. Most of the Inquoia clan became nomadic, but a few warriors remained in their territory. They found her laid out in the snow, holding a branch of honeysuckle, which as I'm sure you're aware wouldn't be growing around this time in Wyoming, and a single feather."

"Culturally, that is the peris' means of burial on the battle field," Niko added. Ever the fountain of knowledge. He probably started researching peris hardcore once we met Ishiah, spurned into deep investigation when Cassie appeared and we started fighting with the peris after her. "During wars it was impossible to bury all the dead. As a burial rite, the peris started leaving the feather of one who had seen the honorable death in respect."

"So someone found her body, hauled her over to her clan's homestead, and placed their own feather on her chest to send her across the rainbow bridge on a mystical ferry boat to the great Narnia in the sky?"

"Even more than that, which was at least three different cultural mythologies, whoever found her pieced her back together before laying her out," Goodfellow continued. I shifted on the couch to lean forward in that tell me more manner I never dared use for the puck before. He explained to us that she had been torn apart. The peris had close history with he Auphe and no matter how distant that history they knew an Auphe kill when they saw one. Nova had been gutted and torn limb from limb, as noted by some pieces still missing, (most likely ingested). The peris that were there found her relatively whole; sewn back together by an inexperienced hand. The Auphe would never have the capacity to do that. It wasn't in their skill set to put something back together. I doubted they could even take up a needle with those talons.

There was no question among us that it wasn't Grimm either. While it was conceivable for him to have the knowledge – he was probably stitching his genitals back on as we spoke – there was no rational purpose for him to do it. Tear her apart for insubordination or uselessness, sure, but what message would he feel the need to give the peris with a Frankenstein body? Especially when he saw no future use for the peris anymore?

"Now this is not conclusive by any means, but maybe we need to revisit our discussion about Dante and Nova holding a companionship. Three more clans edging toward the east coast have been reunited with their women alive and many of them more coherent than the females from the farm house who were spouting off hysterical claims of monsters in the night like psyche ward patients before a fire riot. Their stories have a similar ring even if far-fetched." The puck took in a breath, shifting his gaze cautiously between Cassie and me. "There are two that saved them. One peri with wings barred red clay sienna, which is a trait of the Inquoia, and one with black wings speckled white. That is an indication of mixed clan heritage or mixed species, never looked upon highly in the peris community, but they weren't about to look upon a savior with distain. Some even said he used a gate to free them."

"Whoa, wait a minute," I cut in. Robin seemed to anticipate my interruption; he'd already started pursing his lips before the first syllable. "Are you jumping on board with the 'Dante is saving peris' idea?"

"It doesn't seem as inconceivable anymore, Cal. Ishiah showed Nova's image to the surviving peris and those women confirmed it was her and she wasn't alone. The male was as young as Nova, dark hair, pale complexion, handsome, calm, and with striking gray eyes." He shook his head, probably sensing my apprehension. "If it were one baffled and traumatized peri I wouldn't even bring this up, but now it's four. Four females have claimed they were saved by a peri and a half Auphe bearing a strong resemblance to you."

I shook my head. "Dark hair, pale, with gray eyes doesn't constitute a strong resemblance to me."

"It is when Ishiah offers them a picture of you and two said 'yes, but younger'."

"Where the hell did Ishiah get a picture of _me_?"

"That's why they were observing." The comment was so soft I wasn't sure if Niko had meant for us to hear it, but we did. He had his fingers over his lips, eyes gray eyes were fixed on the carpet as if it held the answers to the universe. He didn't go any further with that thought and with a start noticed we were all staring at him.

"Care to share with the class, big brother?"

He his hand moved up to pinch at the bridge of his nose, his brow wrinkled. "The Auphe have been observing you for months now. We took it for granted that they were just popping in to make sure you were alive and kicking for whatever reason they need to you later, but I'm beginning to doubt that. I still don't know why they haven't attempted to kill you. My only assumption is that since they hadn't seen the slaughter of their elders they don't have any taste for vengeance, but the observing," he met my eyes, then crossed his arms. "If Dante is Nova's age that means the majority of these eight months he has been on Earth. If he'd been in Tumulus that would be over two hundred years. They had him caged somewhere here and they had to make sure you didn't find out. That's why they were tailing you. To make sure you weren't reunited with your son."

"But they did attack—"

"No, they attacked the Bae," Cassie interrupted. Her hand went to my thigh as she sat forward in her seat. I knew the two of them would be off in a second. When my brother and my girlfriend mind-melded there was no use trying to reel them in. "Which might be unrelated and just sport for them, but they didn't attempt to kill either of us."

"What difference does it make?"

"It makes a lot of difference," Cassie countered. "If Dante was here…Cal, you know as well as I do that Tumulus makes you crazy. The Auphe and their version of raising a child doesn't help, but that land…even when I was hunting them I had to come back here to make sure all my brain cells were still functioning on a sane level. If Dante has been here, there is a chance he is balanced. More than either of us were coming out of that hell. Which also means that he could have the capacity to befriend a peri _and_ rebel against the Auphe and Grimm by saving other peris."

I didn't like how plausible that sounded, mostly because I still had the sneaking suspicion we were going to be rudely awakened with a knife to our backs if we believed it. Niko joined in again; the two of them like a merry little snowball bouncing down a ski slope. "The level of hatred Grimm has for the Auphe is due mostly to their disregard, mistreatment, and imprisonment of him. If Dante has been held against his will all this time there is a good chance he despised them just as avidly. Which would give reason for him to disobey them and thwart Grimm's endeavors as well."

Those nightmares were still in my head. One in particular where I was walking through a funhouse of mirrors, staring at a reflection not quiet my own and Dante comes tearing through the glass to kill me. It wasn't that I didn't want my son back, just the way he was before, in my arms, but I just doubted it was going to be that easy. It took Niko almost a year to get me back to somewhat normal after only two with the Auphe. It took Cassie hundreds of years to stop murdering peris at their order. We could do it. I didn't doubt that. I would make sure my son was capable and sane if it killed me, but I didn't think this reunion would be all tears and big hugs and welcome home little Ace.

"Alright then," I said. I'd keep my fears to myself. If my vision was the reality that didn't mean this family wouldn't band together to love some sense into my crazed son. "What's the plan then? Nova is literally a dead end and Grimm is burrowing his head in the sand after getting his ass kicked by a girl. Our only lead is the Vigil."

Nik cast a subtle, hesitant glance down the hall to his back. He didn't have to say anything. I shared the sentiment. His woman was injured, mine was preggo with a lunatic still after her womb; neither of us wanted to leave them, no matter how kickass they were any other day.

"Robin should go with Cal," Cassie suggested casually. When I gave her a look that probably spoke droves on how much I disagreed she pressed on. "This is probably the first time Promise has ever been this injured, correct?"

The silence of Niko pressing his lips together and me staring his way was enough of an answer. "So Niko should stay with her. He's more than enough protection against any wayward salesman that comes to the door."

"There are no door-to-door salesmen anymore, Cas," I pointed out. They or Jehovah's Witness were not who I was concerned about either. Despite her trying to claim they'd be the worst she'd come across.

Cassie shook her head dismissively, annoyed that I took that too literally. "The Auphe won't attack until we visibly have Dante. The Vigil will be distracted with you, and Grimm is crying in a corner 'cause he lost his marbles. If the Bae come, Nik and I can handle it."

I hated it when she had a valid point, especially one that negated mine. Niko gave me that little lift in his eyebrows that told me he agreed. "Fine. Nik can set it up and I'll just try not to knock them down."


	24. Golden Boy - 7

**GOLDEN BOY**

_The weak are useless. To be used for my own amusement. I suspected when they taught me that lesson they had not expected me to be using them. They hadn't suspected they would be the weak. It was a little surprising for me too._

_The red clouding my vision didn't subside until there was no breath condensing the air other than my own. I gained my freedom at the cost of a treasured life not sinned enough to sacrifice it. I took the shell of the peri named Nova and I pieced it back together. The stitches were sloppy and ugly, but my hands would not be still. I returned the body to Nova's clan home in hopes that her misadventures with me hadn't branded her unworthy of the traditional burial. She saw it fit to give her suicidal kin in the farm house that honor; I would spurn my peri linage if they did not give her the same. The gesture was meager offering, but it was all I could give. I was not a peri, but I was not an Auphe. I was something different. _I was also terribly injured.

_I could not calm my soul long enough to tend to my wounds. I could barely steady my hand to stitch Nova's flesh…the shell's flesh. My blood felt as if it boiled through my veins; the rage and malice of my lineage had yet to run its course. There were no hybrids in Centralia, or if there had been the Auphe had likely slaughtered them, so I moved on to North Brother Island._

_There I felt them immediately; little pinpricks along my nerves like the sensation of a pulse deadening in a limb. I didn't gate again, it was a danger enough for me to gate onto the island from sight alone. Gating to an unknown location always held consequences. A lesson I learned when I gated too close to a wall and ended up losing the smallest toe and part of my sole on my right foot. I could see my landing point from the mainland, but if the hybrid hadn't felt the first gate they would be attuned to the second without question. So I shuffled down a street just as deserted as the one I left, using legs worn and bleeding. There were more houses here, a town erect but devoid of human life. The animals remained._

_Even with a light snow falling from the stars they sang. Birds of all winter species; strixes and camzotz as well. Their calls and death cries from the strixes' kill were loud enough to mask the crunch of untouched snow beneath me feet. Not that trail of blood I left wouldn't be easy to trace. My wheezing had softened to a light whistle. My body sought to heal internally first and I was apt to concur. My side continued to ooze blood between my fingers clenched to the left, the right bleed freely. The punctures on my ribs were the worse of my injuries, but only because the Auphe clearly hadn't wanted to kill me with their attacks thereafter. The lacerations on my back never sliced deep enough to catch my spine, though I did believe one of my kidneys had been damaged. The clawed rents and needle-toothed gouged on my legs and arms were enough to cause me to sway on my feet, but I would not perish from the blood loss. _Loss of consciousness was still a possibility.

_I leaned against a bare tree, gazing out at the dozen of colonial homes living dormant before me. I couldn't tell were the hybrids were and I began to doubt my ability to fight my condition. Through hazy vision, I could see a trail of smoke lifting into the overcast sky, indicating at least one life capable of creating fire joining me on the island. I pushed off the tree and continued toward it. If it were the children of Grimm, I would not allow them to take my life. If it was Grimm…mine would rightfully end tonight._

_There were several of the hybrids perched on the trusses and peaks of the white trimmed home. Their red eyes followed me as I limped up the footpath. They didn't attack; either realizing I was not weaker than them even still or waiting for their master's command. One scampered behind me a foot from my heels like a territorial crab. On all fours and making a grunting noise akin to that of a warning. I shouldered the front door open. An assault based on stealth was impossible at this point. Grimm was here. I could sense his stronger presence now; I could smell his blood as he had to scent mine._

"The prodigal son comes to finish the deed,"_ his voice echoed off the exposed rafters. The house was mostly intact, though nature had a way of creeping in where humans abandoned. Leaves dead, but not consumed by the earth scraped along the creaking hardwood floor as I walked farther into the home. Although, the voice echoed I could see his shadow flickering on the wall behind me in time with the fire he had started. I slipped into what was once a living room, cautious of my surroundings though it seemed to be of little need._

_Grimm was reclined in a chair, the fabric and upholstery was torn up and fraying all around him. Both legs were propped up on an equally abused ottoman, feet bare and facing the fireplace. The oddest thing about the image was not his lack of caution when regarding me, not the parable he chose to greet me with – the prodigal son was one who had squandered his inheritance, but returned home to his father's forgiveness – , and not even the worn expression he showed me. What perplexed me was the curious bag of ice he had sitting directly onto his crotch._

"You don't look much better, Golden Boy," Grimm snickered, regarding me in the same assessment. He shifted on the chair to sit up, set the ice to the side table beside him, and leaned over his knees. He tried to hide the cringe there, but I knew the translation of pain in the tightening of facial features now. Besides I could see the stitching along his kneecaps since he was wearing nothing but a tee shirt and boxers. "You officially broke through the bars, didn't you?"

"Why are you icing your genitalia?" I asked in curiosity. My voice came out an obvious wheeze, but other than a curl in his mouth he showed it no regard. I couldn't imagine the ice was to ease an injury as base as overexertion, but part of me also didn't want to believe he would put my mother through such torture.

"A parting gift from you mother," he groused.

"Tell me where she is."

Grimm's pale eyebrows shot up and he laughed with his mouth wide open; his man-made teeth snapped down as if he thought the added effect would intimidate. _His comment about me breaking through the bars should have taught him better. He was nothing compared to the Auphe and I had just slaughtered four. _"Why would I tell you that, Golden Boy?"

"You're injured. I will spare you." I had to resort to shorter sentences as my limited breath could not get much more than a dozen syllables out.

Grimm laughed again. I could not blame him for that; lies were not my strong suit even if they were more bluffs than falsehoods. "Says the boy bleeding gallons before me. You're nearly half-dead, child. My children could kill you tonight."

"They can try."

Grimm's head tilted to one side so his pointed chin was shadowed drastically by the firelight. He leaned back in the chair again, lifting his feet back onto the ottoman. It took great skill for him to only show a slight twitch of pain in his left eye. _He knew pain better than me. I was not going to deny him that asset. The Auphe coddled me in comparison, because I held a purpose and he did not._ Grimm ran a hand through his short white hair and sighed. "How many did you kill?"

"Four."

_Grimm smiled like the memory of my claws through the flesh and their blood in my mouth as I choked the life from their bodies was his._ He was proud. "I really wish you would reconsider my proposition."

I felt my head tilt to one side. I almost felt a tangible twinge of pain trying to process that. He'd originally propositioned me to breed with the succubae as he was, but that was no longer his practice. If he was re-propositioning me to join him on his new mission… "You want me to help you impregnate my mother."

Grimm grunted in consideration. "I'm guessing that's a no."

I wanted to kill him. _The urge to unleash my claws and pounce on his relaxed body, dig in, and gut him was a visceral thing. I closed my eyes and took in a long breath through my nose to quell the beast within me. The Auphe scratched at the surface –I hated to cage it like I had been caged myself, but that part of me needed to be controlled. Like a starved dog, it would gorge itself to death should I not limit its food._ "She freed herself from you."

"She's with your father right now," he replied grumpily. His red eyes differed from the Auphe as the iris was the only thing red while the pupil and sclera remained human in coloring, but they fixed on my gaze with the same animalistic glower. "Is that enough to get you to take your bleeding corpse off my doorstep?"

He was injured more than he wished to admit. _The game held no interest to him right now, which was a sure sign that he didn't believe he could win the gamble._ That was fine; I wasn't sure I could win myself. "They are safe?"

"From me, for now."

"Where are they?" Grimm glared at me. Completely silent for several minutes, but staring with the patience no other had show when I took time to speak. I determined from that silence that he would not be telling me where my parents were whether I decided to risk an altercation or not. I didn't wish to. _I left his camp without recourse other than slicing out the throat of the sole hybrid that attacked upon my departure. I took to the sky to find safer haven, but only made it to the mainland before the altitude began affecting my wounds. I spent nearly an hour huddled on a park bench, trying to regulate my breathing with one functioning lung._

_I'd always felt alone, but never was it this apparent. I had no means to find my parents. No one to trust to help me with my wounds. No where even to rest as I healed. If there was ever a moment to cry in sadness, I would have imagined the current one to be that moment. My tear ducts had simply dried out. I couldn't even lament Nova's death properly. _Perhaps I was a soulless creature.

"Child," a lilting whisper called behind me. I turned on the bench to find a wood nymph crouching by a large oak. Blanketed in snow and a wreath of browned leaves, I could barely discern her gender let alone her species until I caught her scent. Even with the dampening of the snow, the fragrance of moss and earth wafted like a passing breeze. She beckoned me closer, but when I refused went on in her soft voice. "Child, hide your wings. You are among humans."

With a start, I realized several of those humans were staring at me as they passed on their way to home or dinner or whatever entertainment they sought. I waited for the moment no one was looking and willed my wings invisible; if any were to glance back they would believe it a figment of their imagination, though I don't imagine my bloodied appearance would lessen the cautious stares. "I need shelter." I spoke to the nymph as I had no other to speak to. The species, especially those that made their homes in the forests, were a benevolent sort. I may not be able to trust her, but I could trust she wished me no harm. "Safe shelter."

"Indeed," she cooed, almost giggled. She glanced about and made quick work of the feet between us. I could barely see the movement, before she was grasping the back of the bench and propping her pointed chin on the curve. Her eyes were the color of Spanish moss and her lashes were laced with snow. "The shelter you seek is in the Ninth Circle."

"Pardon?"

"A location supplying libations to the idle and weary."

"A bar?"

The nymph smiled and seemed to shed her whimsical gestures and voice like a cloak. "Yes, a bar. A peri bar. They're fond of taking in lost peris. Ishiah might be willing to help you."

I recognized the name_. I'd visited New York twice before when the Auphe allowed me the luxury. They guarded me with greater vigilance here, perhaps frightened the lure of the city lights would distract or drive me into a frenzy. The Ninth Circle was on a street that I'd only crossed over while exploring from rooftops, but I knew that side of the city island catered to the paien. I remembered it if only for the trees that seemed to be growing within and through the building. If the nymph mistook me for a peri alone, perhaps they might let me in_. Nova mentioned clanless peris could be welcomed in New York.

_I stood from the bench and immediately regretted the motion. My leg had been mending, but when I stretched, the skin prematurely it cracked open and blood drenched my already stiff jeans. At least, my lung had healed enough to inflate. It was weak and barely held enough air for a half breath, but it functioned. The gouges along my ribs continued to bleed, though sluggish enough that it only wet my inner shirt, leaving my winter jacket flaking with dried blood and loosed fibers of cotton filler. I thanked the nymph as best I could and decided I had no choice, but to gate to the bar. The location was too far for me to venture on foot and I couldn't chance a call to the human police if someone would find me suspicious or in need of a hospital._

_The splitting of the air before me caused the nymph to gasp, but I didn't wait –stepping through and onto the rooftop I had previously visited. It wasn't the best of landings; memory left me on the ledge and my wounded leg almost caused me to plummet to the ground. Another gate or my wings would have sufficed in saving me, but I was able to regain purchase and balance bodily._

_From the rooftop, I could see the city bustling, even at such a late hour. Instead of the ant-like waves of human workers I would witness during the morning hours these bodies in droves were paien. Werewolves, nymphs, revenants, and even gargoyles all milling about in casual harmony. The street was even decorated with a few festive wreaths associated with the winter season. I stumbled down the fire escape, pausing to catch my breath at each landing. I hoped those observing my clumsy approach would assume I was either intoxicated or lost a grievous fight._

I was received no better when I made it through the wooden door of the peris' bar. In the fashion I'd seen in films, the entire room craned necks and turned bodies to view me. From those sitting in the tavern-style table to those behind the bar. All eyes were on me. I imagined the majority of my sudden fame was due to my overt stench. Covered in blood as I was and obviously not in the healthiest of conditions, I attracted much attention from those who liked to prey on the weak just as the Auphe did. I wished to show them how deadly I still was, but I supposed an immediate battle would only entice more havoc.

I tried to remain inconspicuous as I could, considering the circumstance. I walked with as little limp as the pain would allow, and pulled my hood over my head. My wings were exposed again, the moment I entered the paien-friendly bar. As I ambled up to the bar and dropped down to one stools, the eyes started to depart from my back. Conversation murmured to a light din of background noise and only those in my direct vicinity continued to watch me with caution. 

_It certainly didn't help that I hardly looked old enough to be in this establishment. I just ducked my head to my arms and tried to concentrate on healing. One of the werewolves near by me took a long swill of scent off me and nearly toppled his bar stool backing off. He snarled something in his own tongue, which I was hardly proficient in, though I could gather the gist of his distaste. He might have even been incapable of speaking in another language with his nasal passages so elongated it. His jaw was warped into that of a snub-nose canine as well and he sprayed a mist from his calloused black nose in the same manner someone would spit at another.___

_I pulled my hood up over my brow, hunkering down further. Though the image I created was profound, I wished to keep anonymity among the paien. The less they knew the less the Auphe could torture from them. I killed those that would speak of my betrayal, but they would soon seek me out for that or other reasons all the same._ They could not lose their golden egg.

"Hey, Kid." One of the peri bartenders approached me with hesitance. He placed a fire axe on the bar before me in a warning that was unnecessary. "We've had a quiet night; I'd like to keep it that way."

"I seek no quarry here." I told him. Still unable to speak clearly with breaths between. The peri leaned down to catch my eyes, studying me like an animal caged in the zoo. "I just need to rest. I will leave. Once I've caught my breath."

"Yeah? You want a drink?"

"I'm not of age for your establishment. Not in this country."

"I can make an exception. You look like you need a drink."

I shook my head. The hood caught on my hair and slid back just slightly. Not enough to fall to my shoulders, but enough to expose my cut face and features to this peri before me. He stared at me with scrutiny. A handsome man with Grecian features and chestnut hair. The soft strength of his gaze reminded me of Nova; my chest ached for more than just the dysfunctional lung.

"Plenty of other vices to choose from, right?" he said in jest, then reached over the axe to lift my hood. He hadn't removed it from my skull, but waited until I lifted my gaze to meet his, before set it back over my brow. "If you're not drinking, we're not profiting, so I can't have you driving off paying customers with your stench."

I closed my eyes in defeat. Even with my wings exposed to show my peri heritage no clan would seek to help me, why did I hope for better at a peris' bar. "I will pay for the seat then."

"No, you will pay for a room and a bath," the peri countered. He tucked the axe away under the bar and motioned to another of his kind down the bar. "Danyael, I'll be a minute. Gotta hose this kid down."

"That isn't necessary."

The peri raised his eyebrows in a gesture Nova called stubbornness. "You smell like Auphe."

"That tends to happen when you kill one."

"Or ten?" the peri teased, as if he thought I was exaggerating. I didn't correct him, but I also didn't move when he started down the end of the bar and lifted the latch. He eyed me like he expected something from me, then voiced the command aloud, "Get up. I'm trying to help without tarnishing your pride, kid."

I slid off the barstool, attempting not to show the weakness my body was radiating to my brain. "I've failed too often to hold any pride." What he was offering was precisely what I needed and as long as he assumed I was a wayward Auphe-killing peri we would be allies. I was in no condition to fend off a bar full of paien. _Most of these creatures I'd only read about and never practiced the technique of killing or incapacitating_.

Samyel, as he introduced himself, led me out the back door of the bar.A door that had obviously been broken into and by the length and depth of the gouges this peri wasn't unfamiliar with my malicious side of the family. He made no comment toward it and waved for me to continue following him instead of shooing me away as I thought he might once outside in the chill again. Around two full dumpsters was another door that led to the second level. The building looked as if it housed three stories, but between the vaulted ceilings of the bar and the trees sprouting through the rafters I doubted the second floor existed. I was correct, for it was the door to the third floor that Samyel opened and ushered me through.

He didn't speak until I entered and the door shut behind us; I appreciated his respect toward privacy. "Me and the guys live up here when we're between apartments, or in Carfuel's case between women. So please don't trash the place." Samyel breezed past me to the small free-standing closet across the open floor. The room was more of a giant studio. Several small cots littered the outskirts, while an open kitchen crept in an L shape around one corner. In the other far corner there was a toilet and an exposed tub, separated only by a curtain strung from the drop ceiling.

_Peris, like myself, felt little modesty regarding their bodily form. Fornication was still scared and best left for procreation, but the naked form had little to do with the act. Besides that fact, I also saw only males staffing the bar, which meant they were even less concerned with seeing each other naked and trusting each other in that vulnerable state_. "You see the bath. It's old but it works just fine. Use as much water as you see fit to get off that caked blood. I'd rather you not stink of Auphe when you're done."

My shoulders sagged as I looked around. This would be the perfect place for me to heal and lay low, but it was unfair to deny this peri and his brethren the right to deny me with my lies. "Samyel, I should warn you: I will not be able to remove the scent completely."

"I know," he replied. By his lips pressed in a thin line, I was apt to believe him. If he had seen or fought the Auphe before he would be more sensitive to when they were around. _The peris had developed that ability over many millennia of battle with the Auphe. It might have damped over the years the Auphe had retreated to Tumulus, but one experience and that internal radar could be revitalized._ I was half and he was claiming he could feel that.

"I don't wish any harm upon you."

Samyel smirked. "Kid, the way you're fairing, I doubt you could harm me." He pulled out a set of towels from the closet and set them on the edge of the pedestal sink. "Wash up, then we'll talk."

I nodded. There was no need to refuse his kind gestures if he knowingly offered them to a half-Auphe. I peeled off my coat as I crossed the studio, then my shirt, gingerly. I watched Samyel's eyes squint in sympathetic pain when he saw the deep lacerations and punctures on my ribs. "I should get you something to stitch that up. You sure you don't want a drink?"

"Alcohol will only thin my blood and allow more to flow from my body. It isn't a wise decision."

"Then how about some tea? Your lips are almost blue from the cold." I bit at my lower one to test the sensitivity there and didn't like that it was numb. It wasn't from the cold winter either; I'd lost much too much blood. I inclined my head to Samyel in agreement to the offered drink. "Some food? They make a decent steak next door. I could get it rare for you."

"I don't eat me," I replied. Samyel lifted his dark eyebrows in either an affronted or disbelieving manner. I thanked him anyway in case it was insult that made him gaze at me like that.

"Doesn't eat meat," the peri murmured as he turned and made his way across the studio to the kitchen, leaving me to my own devices. I removed the rest of my clothing, painstakingly slow in my movements, as the bath filled part way. I knew the water would be tainted the moment I stepped in, so I didn't wish to waste it. I felt warm against my skin, pleasurable until I eased in to my waist. Pain close to that of a white flame burning flesh arched over my every nerve and I held in the cry that wanted to erupt from my lips.

"Hey, kid?" Apparently it wasn't as silent as I attempted to keep it.

"Fine," I assured through panted breath. Something was digging into my lung within. I touched the left side where it had deflated again and felt a ridge protruding against healed skin. I knew, instinctively, what it was and immediately tore the skin to get at the obstruction. My initial attack on the Auphe that had pinned me was violent and swift. My actions had freed me, but not without a reminder. One of the male's claws had broken off inside me; my lung had healed around it, but when I curled into the tub the bladed edge reopened the fragile organ.

I dug my fingers into the scar tissue, finding little purchase on the black talon. My functioning lung was convulsing as it tried to keep up with the intake, it made my air come in little gasps as I worked the claw out of my side. "Kid. Kid, what the hell are you doing?"

I couldn't feel his hands on me, until his fingers wrapped around my wrist. "Stop it. The angle's wrong, stop or you'll cause more damage."_ I was near unconsciousness, my vision had swirled bright white and now I could barely see through the pinpricks my pupils allotted me. I was half draped over the side of the tub. Despite the hazy shadows circling my peripheral vision, I could see the water was a deep red, the sides of the tub were covered with the thick liquid. That was new blood, not watered down remnants._

"Shit, Dante. Hold on."

_I could barely lift my eyelids, but I could hear his voice over the pulsing of my heart. Dante? I was Dante. That sounded right. It matched the muffled whisper in my ear that I would 'be all right'; the one whose hand clasped at my nape and left me with such a feeling of comfort and certainty. It matched the lullaby sung with the sweet cadence of my mother's voice; her scent surrounding like a thatch of protective thorns that no monster could penetrate. I wished I could have told Nova…my name was Dante._

_I coughed up blood onto the wood floor, over the edge of the tub. Samyel had a grip on the talon, wrapped up the edge in a wash cloth, then he pulled; hard and quick. Agony blazed over my side, electrifying my nerves all the way up to my jaw, then to my temple. Something malfunctioned there. I convulsed. Then there was no warmth of a father holding me close, no comfort from a mother singing me to sleep. I was alone and the darkness had claimed me._

_Somewhere in the back of my memories – in the ones I had lost – I heard a callous voice, alive with rage and passion for those he loved. His words I felt, personally, that second before I blacked out. _This was bullshit.


	25. Chapter 16 - Cal

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

**CAL**

So by some strange turn of events it was Niko and I, the brothers Leandros, that ended up taking the red line to the Vigil's requested meeting ground. The government puppets decided that since we were requesting the information they got to choose the locale. They chose an abandoned shop that used to be a just-scraping-by ice cream shop. I'd frequented it back when my first crush/first love did readings there, treated – deservingly – like a psychic princess by both the patrons and the owner. George asked her clients to buy tasty treats from the old man that ran the joint instead of paying her. She was a kind-hearted human; one of the few beings I could confidently say had a heart of gold, which obviously meant it would never work out between us. It did make me wonder if she was still with that trigger-happy Josh kid.

With her off who knew where – and I didn't want to know, because her being in direct vicinity of me always got her hurt – the shop had suffered and apparently closed down. Maybe it was her absence, maybe it was the economy, or maybe the old man kicked it; regardless, I wanted to know what the Vigil thought they'd gain by dragging me and Nik there. Did they think I would be overwhelmed with nostalgia and not kill them for the sanctity of the memory? Well, I was going to try my best not to kill them anyway, but the location made little difference.

The decision for it to be Niko and I was actually cinched by Robin and he swore that it had nothing to do with Ishiah's flight coming in that day – yup, peri on a plane, that wasn't redundant at all – or the fact that the peri was stopping by the penthouse to see Cassie first thing. Even if that was his selfish reason for not suffering through this pow-wow with me he still filibustered through several other reasons, a few of which got us thinking, then begrudgingly agreeing with.

The Vigil would start getting suspicious if the inseparable brothers kept showing up separate. Suspicion could lead to them withholding information or even drastically jumping to the conclusion that we were guarding something precious, namely the very thing they were searching for.

My absence the first meeting was easily explained with the partial truth: I wanted to kill each and every one of them for shooting Cassie and Niko was aiming for a more productive meeting. Of course, you couldn't get more productive than that in my opinion. But the Vigil had come clean to Promise and Nik about Cas, which meant if I didn't go to threaten and piss on them for their lies it would be strange. If I didn't go to get more information about my lost lover it would be a dead giveaway that I already had her. I let myself be imprisoned by the bastards for her after only a one week relationship. At this point they knew I was all in when it came to the Harbinger.  
There was a possibility that the monkeys would believe that Niko was absent due to Promise being injured, but it would still red flag us. 'How did she get hurt', they would wonder, then start peeking in our windows with government-grade personal jetpacks. Besides, the Vigil probably knew we weren't on any other cases, therefore Promise would have obviously been hurt by the ever so clever Grimm and Niko would never leave my side when that dick was around.

_Not to say he even had one to speak of anymore. Stripped of his manhood and shown his true worth. _Hah, right, 'dick'…man, I was going to be laughing about that one for a long time coming.

Nevermind that Niko almost did leave me to this meeting in favor of Promise, but that was mostly due to the fact that if Grimm were to attack with his eunuch self or with his meager children, it would be upon the penthouse, not me _and_ I felt pretty self-assured that my girlfriend and Robin could handle either or at this point in time. Niko agreed, so it didn't take much to convince him that his place was with his brother…per usual

So Robin stayed at the penthouse playing nurse to a very perturbed vampire and hair salon with the mess that was Cassie's hair. Somehow, even if Robin and Promise had lost my two-year-old son to a Kin ambush last year, I believed they would be safe. Grimm would be out of commission for a while and they could handle the Bae. That conviction didn't stop me from texting Cassie every five minutes though. Her last one said, I quote: "If you don't stop pestering, I'm going to start making inappropriate comments about Robbie's dick." Then in a second message, "with visual references."

I put my phone in my jacket pocket and trudged up the cracked sidewalk to the lonely looking building. We ducked under the metal gate that I used to unlock for George and the owner – damn it, what was his name? It was strange not hearing the chime of the rusty bell that used to dangle over the doorframe.

Within, two humans already waited for us. Both stood in the dim light that pressed through the boarded up windows; center of the shop, behind the huge curved fifties-type plastic bar where the ice cream used to be housed. Good cover, if I came in shooting. One was rocking nervously back and forth on rubber-soled boots, but stopped as soon as we entered. He stared at me with wide brown eyes as if we hadn't called ahead to let them know I would be accompanying my brother. The other stood like a typical military soldier; his legs spread wide and his semi-automatic held across his body, the barrel tipped down for now.

"Welcome," the soldier announced.

"Very American," I snorted. "Ice cream and assault rifles." I tapped the dusty dome that wrapped around the top of the bar. "And all out of ice cream, I see.

"We missed you in the last meeting, Caliban," he went on. He was a mass of bulging muscles, a perfect specimen for a bodyguard in an action-adventure flick. Overly tanned too, but it didn't look like it was from a bed or a bottle; ten-to-one he would have a stellar farmer's tan under his pressed camo. Tweedledee wasn't much to scoff at either, but at least his biceps weren't trying to rip out the seams of his black shirt. His black framed glasses and nervousness also gave off more of a tech vibe than auxiliary.

"Niko, failed to mention he received such a warm welcome last time," I growled, eyeing the guns, then giving my brother a side long glance. One look at his expression told me that they hadn't been armed before. Apparently, I was a special guest; deserved special treatment. "Oh, that's just for me then. Wonderful. Pointless, but its nice to know you care."

"You called for us. The parameters are different," soldier boy said. His name tag said Lawson and I imagined the dog tags would probably say Catholic, since he was staring at me like I was the devil incarnate. Both of them were, but Specs didn't have a nametag. Soldier and scientist maybe? Either way they were both ready to kill me if the need arose.

"The parameters? You mean when you decided to tell us you've been imprisoning and experimenting on my girlfriend for _eight_ months while I was under the impression that you _killed_ her. And then you lose her to my arch enemy, whom will respect her body even less that you have?" I asked, dead calm. "Those parameters?

"I feel I should inform you that myself and Rogers do not participate in those particular aspects of the Vigil."

"No, you just protect them," I snapped. "Well, I feel that I should inform you that it makes no difference to me. A meat puppet is a meat puppet." Niko held up a hand, taping the side of his palm against my chest as a short reminder of what our goal was. I had to put on a good show, but I couldn't kill them…at least not until we squeezed all the information out of them.

"We request all the information you have compiled about Castiella, including detailed accounts of what has been done to her while in the Vigil's care as well as all the information you have been gathering about the Bae and Grimm."

Even though it was Niko talking, Lawson lifted his chin to stare down at me over his pronounced cheekbones. "What makes you think you have rights to that information?

"Lawson, I believe you asked us to find the Harbinger," Niko cut in before I could show them what rights I did have; like the right to bear arms, I liked that one. My brother was a pillar of calm beside me, but remained nearer to the door. Like a hardened warrior he knew how quickly this could get bloody, so in the presence of armed men he had a throwing knife palmed. Hidden, but there. "In order to do so it would be best for us to pool our information."

"Except you've given us none," the other guy proclaimed.

"We're the muscle," I snickered. "Isn't that right? We're the muscle, you're the brains. So spill."  
Lawson slid his eyes over to Specs and gave a curt nod; Specs produced several files from behind the counter and tossed them toward me. They wanted to see me fumble, but I didn't bother. The three blue and green files hit the plastic dome before the floor and followed the curve right into my hand. Specs looked disappointed. He was probably that nerd that got his books and papers knocked out of his hands in the middle of a crowded hallway; wanted to see someone suffer like he had as a middle school. Well, I wasn't Mr. Popular either, so he could suck it.

I gave him a tight smile, holding up the files. "Thanks, but seriously. Files? You have the ability to put an anti-gate system on your goose that lays artificial golden eggs, but you haven't upgraded to a flash drive?" I passed them to Niko. He was definitely the brains of our operation; he was also the brawn, but I liked to pretend I had something to contribute. Niko flipped his blade back into its hiding place so he could open the files and start perusing them. I kept my eyes on Rambo and Ralphie.

"You seem impeccably calm for a man whose lover is under—"

"If you want me to remain calm you won't finish that sentence," I hissed at Specs. I knew where this was going. My act wasn't on par with my violence and eccentric behavior of before, but honestly part of that was due to my control. They needed to realized Caliban was on a lease, but only because I chose to lease him. "The only, the _only, _reason I haven't shot you both in the head and written a message to the rest of you bastards in your blood all over the walls is because there are people I love who wouldn't appreciate that. Don't test me, because a disapproving glare from big brother will not stop me if you piss me off. Consider me a landmine."

I watched Lawson's jaw tighten under the flesh of his cheeks. His sweating hands re-gripped his assault rifle. They got the message. Whether through my words, my malicious smile, or the flashing of my teeth, they understood that I wasn't as half-kilter as I was before, but I was no less dangerous. Perhaps more so, actually. I hadn't even touched my own weapon yet.

"There's nothing useful here," Niko said, letting the snap of the file closing punctuate his sentence. "It's an abstract and every other line is referencing a project or a file you have not supplied. How will this help us?"

"That is what you have clearance for," Lawson countered.

"What is Project Roman Ring? Project Charlemagne? The Midas Trials? File AB3292901?" Big brother was getting irritated. I smirked as I listened to that taunt little hum enter the back of his throat. "This reads like a conspiracy theorist's manifesto. It tells me nothing other than that Castiella was connected to many things more than the creation of her and Cal's second child."

"We have given you what you have been given clearance for." The repetition did nothing to me, but it was amusing to see Niko getting flustered by it for once. He stepped forward, slapped the files down on the top of the dome, and held it there with a splayed, tense hand.

"I want medical records of what drugs were administered to Castiella, what procedures were executed, what hormones you were dosing her with and at which times. I want coordinates of every sighting that has been recorded for both Grimm and his children. I want tactical reconnaissance of their movements. And don't tell me you didn't bring it with you." He let go of the files, but before they could slid back over the curve in his direction, he flipped out a blade and slammed it through both the files and the plastic beneath; like a butterfly in a shadowbox. "The Vigil knows we are not dim enough to accept this bullshit, so if they sent you here without another bargaining chip…well, I supposed they didn't like you much."

I let off a little shudder that was only half faked. I didn't have to say anything either, the two men knew a shiver of anticipation when they saw one.

_Just an inch. Just an inch and I'll paint their blood for miles. Such weak, pathetic little couriers only worth the entertainment their slow deaths would create._

Lawson was the one that gave in, surprisingly. He motioned to Specs and the black-clad techie tossed Niko a flash drive. Niko responded with a raised brow.

"Coordinates of those abominations' movements and observation of their hunting style, which is anything but tactical. The records of medication given to Specimen Alpha-bravo-niner and the procedures regarding fluids taken forcibly from Caliban Leandros, are in there as well, but other than that you have no right to ask." Lawson plucked Niko's throwing knife out of the plastic and tossed it over the counter to Niko's feet. My brother kicked it up with the side of his foot before it touched the ground and caught the handle in his palm.

The soldier stepped back from the dusty counter, Specs a few steps ahead; they were heading out the back door obviously. "Everything in there is to help you find and give aid to specimen alpha-bravo-niner if and when you find her. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You know this secrecy isn't healthy for a lasting relationship," I commented. Neither of them would turn around, as if I'd shoot them in the back. The ass maybe, but if I was going to shoot them anywhere it'd be the head. "When I find her, you are never getting her back. You understand me? You touch her again and I will murder every one of you. Or maybe I'll just gate the building into Tumulus. See how long you last there with your faithful guns and needles."

_You don't need the gun. You never needed the gun. What better weapon that the grip of a hand? What better feeling than the gasp of a desperate breath under the vice of bare flesh and taut tendons wrapped tightly around a slowing pulse?_

"Cal," Niko beckoned and I followed, leaving the ice cream shop and stepping into the rising light of the sun. I paused on the sidewalk and glanced back at the building. In the sliver of an alley between the boarded up shop and the next dilapidated building I saw black sedan flicker like a snapshot down a parallel road. In a flash of shadowed movement they ran away from the monster.

_Another time, maybe._

Niko was waiting for me at the corner of the street. He stood with a swayed back, his hand tucked into the pockets of his coat. His head was turned back to watch me. He looked like the private detective that we pretended to be with his dark blond braid shifting in the chilly wind and the snow drifting down around him. I half expected my vision to shift to black and white as he started monologuing about the dame that came into the office last night.

As I trudged up next to him, he gave me a little half smile. "What? Proud of me?"

Niko tilted his head up toward the sky; I had to admit it was rather breathtaking even if I wasn't one for taking in the scenery. The sun hung just below the high rise buildings, casting them in red and orange halos; it made the snow floating down look a little like dying embers. Strange to see the sun and snow in the same moment.

"I'm glad you kept control," Niko said softly. Little flakes melted on his brow, slipping down his impressive nose when he dipped his head back down. "If you hadn't I don't believe I would have stopped you."

I lifted my eyebrows. "And why couldn't you have told me that before?"

He gave me a smile that bordered on wicked. He didn't reply, but crossed the street to the next sidewalk, making his way back to the station. I followed after two steps behind and watched him pull out his cell phone to call home and check in with the weakened and the wired. I knew why he wouldn't have stopped me. Well, wouldn't have stopped me as long as I killed them with blade or bullet. I had a feeling he would have been miffed if I used a gate.

The Vigil were becoming an exponentially larger thorn in our sides. From a voyeuristic annoyance to a plethora of evil scientist villains –run by the government secretly, no less. I knew the little puzzle they enticed Nik with would keep the gears in his head on overdrive for days. He didn't like brain teasers he couldn't solve…or lies. The Vigil were piling on both, which meant Niko was pissed. Ergo he probably wanted to stab their feet to the crack linoleum with a few blades and beat the answers out of them. So if I'd shot them like I'd wanted to, he wouldn't have even batted an eye. Probably lecture me about getting more information from your informant before disposing of them, but for what they did to Cassie, for their lies and their secrecy, for their guarded fake cooperation, he wanted them dead as much as I did.

And what they did to Cassie, well, that seemed a lot more extensive than pumping her full of hormones and my semen. Part of me wondered if we should have kept the files; there was a chance that the only data on that flash drive was a virus. I doubted the Vigil had that much of a death wish, but I wouldn't put it passed them. Those files Nik listed off, the projects…I also doubted they were going to be complete on the flash drive either. Of course with my brother's Shamwow brain all the names and marks on those files were imprinted already.

Before we made it to the station, Niko took an unspoken detour to the post office of all places. Still on the phone with Robin, he jotted down an address on an overnight packaging slip – Asiago, Italy, who the hell did we know in Italy? Niko disconnected with Robin, put the phone in his back pocket, then dropped the flash drive in the cushioned envelope.

"What are you doing?" I asked, when it was clear that Niko wasn't getting or responding to my expressions and hand motions that conveyed the same question.

"We don't know what is on this drive."

"Right, so you're shipping it off to Italy because if we never look at it we'll never have our hopes and dreams crushed?"

Niko gave me a chiding look. Try as he might my brain never worked as chess-match-quick as his did. When faced with a physical fight I had no problem being two steps ahead of my enemy, but when it came to warfare of the mind I was the slow kid eating paste in the corner. "I'm sending it to someone who can check it for tracers or Trojans before we destroy another one of my laptops."

Tracers, I hadn't thought of that. Wouldn't that be the easiest way for the Vigil to keep tabs on us. Activate the webcam with a quick hack and they would be able to see what we were doing at any time and when we were weakest. They would see when we got Cassie back, so they would know when to plan an attack. It made sense and none of our computer skills would be able to evade their high-grade tech. "His name is Salamadier. A reclusive alchemic mishap that lives in the Venetian PreAlps. He helped us escape from the Vigil when you allowed yourself to be shackled for love."

"I missed that part, I guess."

"You were sleeping." Niko paid for the shipping with the clerk and cuffed me to shoo me out of the post office. He failed to mention that I was sleeping because I had recently opened a gate that I wasn't really supposed to given my limitations at the time. He also failed to mention that the only reason I could sleep was because he drugged me with a laced pizza. Yup, my big brother: making sure I got a good night's sleep by any means possible. Such a sweetie. "Even if there are no malicious files on the drive, I don't have enough confidence in my skills to deal with whatever encryptions or ciphers they used. Salamandier seems to live for the challenge their technology gives him, so I'll let him weed out what we need."

"Is it safe to let him read that stuff about Cassie?"

"I doubt he even cares to read it. His reward is in the picking of the lock not the jewels inside."

I rolled my eyes at Niko's poetic license and jolted when my cell buzzed against my side. I wrenched it out, while my heart thudded a few times against my ribcage and a few times more when I saw it was from one of my burn phones, which I had given to Cassie for emergencies. "Cas?"

"Hey." Her tone was light, careless as usual. "How'd it go?"

"Castiella, damn it. I thought something had happened!"

"Don't be paranoid. I'm not a little daisy, Cal. How many times do I have to tell you I can handle myself?" She was scolding me? Scolding! After she nearly had me gating out of my skin, she was lecturing. I ran a hand over my face and waved Niko's concerned expression off. We continued toward the station as Cassie went on. "Meet us at the Ninth Circle. Uncle Ishiah's been called in – some emergency with Samyel? Anyway, I wanted to see the boys and get out of this damned apartment."

"Wait, what about Promise?"

Cassie made a little sound in the back of her throat. "Yeah, well. She said she would shoot a crossbow bolt into the knee of the next person that asked her if she would be okay on her own, so I think she would like some alone time." That made me chuckle. It also made me realize how coddling Niko and I had been toward these two very capable women. Both of them had been around long before either of us had been born; really, it was stupid to think we could protect them any better than they could protect themselves. Actually it was a bit egomaniacal and slightly delusional.

"All right, be careful. I'll meet you there."

There was a long pause on the other line, then Cassie spoke and I could hear the grateful smile in her voice. "Thank you, Cali. I love you." I tucked my phone away with a smile, proud of my big boy moment. There was a point where I just had to let go and hope she landed on her feet. She'd been able to do it fifteen thousand times before me, so what made this day any different. If the landing was a little shaky I would help then.

I told Niko where I was heading and I saw the hesitation in his face. He wasn't ready to let his lover drop yet. I decided not to share my epiphany, mostly because he needed to get it from Promise not me. My only regret was that I wouldn't get to see the usually delicately spoken vampire verbally rip him a new one. Bet it would be classic. Regardless, we reluctantly parted ways and I hopped on the train going the opposite direction as my brother toward my work place... that I hadn't actually worked at for at least a week now.

Walking into the bar, I was greeted with one of my worse nightmares; one I never had at night because it was just too classically normal to be a horror of mine. That was until, I was faced with it. Cassie sat at the bar, chatting animatedly with Carfuel and Danyael, and beside her posed and clad in a dress that was so open back it nearly revealed her underwear (if she was wearing any) was Genesee. Oh, this was not going to go well…farewell balls, you were dear companions.


	26. Chapter 17 - Cal

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

**CAL**

The bar was pretty alive considering the early hour for New York. Most vampires had gone home since the sun was rising up, same with lamia and vodyanoi. Most paien traveled and socialized during nightfall, seeing how there weren't packs of business-suited humans to deal with and it was easier to mask traits the humans would consider deformities. Like the thing at the corner table that looked like it had a loofah for a head or the revenant slogging skin off at the end of the bar opposite from my girlfriend and my one-night-stand.

And how did I explain that to Cassie? After all the reassurances and the stupid 'I love yous' we'd been tossing back in forth and here I was again, on the ledge of a high-rise argument. Women could be downright scary when they were scorned. Cassie was pretty possessive of me too. She had shown a great dislike for Delilah, nearly killing her before we were even together. Granted that might have been more due to Delilah trying to kill me, but that wrath of a woman was still seen. And probably would again tonight. I could only hope for a bitchslap.

The barstool between them as empty, but I toyed with the idea of sneaking behind the bar and pretending to help the peris during a busy time. Genesee acknowledged my presence first, though. Actually, Danyael saw me first and was grinning like a madman for the pain and humiliation I was about to endure. Genesee was smiling too; red-painted lips curled into that aggressively taunting smirk of hers, as her snowy gray eyes flitted from over her shoulder to Cassie. Oh fuck, they were already talking.

I wandered reluctantly up to the empty seat, avoiding both of their gazes now fixed on me. Danyael could barely keep the snicker out of his voice. "Need a drink, Cal?" I nodded and he un-capped a beer for me. He would have stuck around for the fireworks if there weren't four others at the bar demanding to be served.

"So, handsome," Cassie teased. There was a glass in front of her too, but where Genesee's smelled of her choice scotch whiskey Cassie's was scentless, which probably meant it was water. "Genesee and I had a bet going; whoever's date came first would get the chair we were saving. She says she's won."

I cleared my throat and glared at the Wendigo to my right. "I don't remember scheduling that."

Genesee just took a sip of her drink and lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Do you have anything better to do? Another road trip perhaps?"

"I'm not interested, Genesee," I countered, hoping she could back off as easily as she did at the parking lot. The ebony-haired vixen studied me for a moment then her pale eyes set on Cassie in a manner I very much didn't like. I didn't know how some women did it; they just knew when they could alter a situation to get men in royal trouble and they certainly loved to do it.

"Well, that is impossible. After the night we shared…interested is putting it lightly."

"Night, as in singular. As in never going to happen again." I put emphasis on the last phrase even if I didn't dare look in Cassie's direction. Instead I held my beer like a life line, taking a heavy gulp from it.

"Sounds like some night," Cassie hummed. I did risk a sidelong look her way because she didn't sound pissed at all, on the contrary she was smiling like she just found an Auphe head to play soccer with. And _that_ metaphor probably came from Caliban. She leaned forward on the bar to see Genesee around me, the motion brought her breasts to rest on the counter and I was enrapt for a moment, until I registered what she asked. "So when was this magical night?"

"Weeks ago," I interjected, not wishing for the Wendigo at my back to make any embellishments. "It was a one-night-stand nothing more." Genesee giggled behind me – man, that sound really grated now. She knew with that claim what she was dealing with or she thought she knew; an unfaithful boyfriend getting his dues. Not that I was technically unfaithful. It wasn't like Cas and I were on break or had even broken up, but that was the problem. We hadn't broken up and some girls could get crazy with the technicalities like, hell, me thinking she was _dead_.

"When you left the apartment you were singing a different tune. I believe you were very eager to meet again, if I remember correctly," Genesee teased. She wrapped her arm around my waist from behind, letting her fingers dance over my inner thigh as her voice purred in my ear. I tensed, hoping the natural arousal was masked with my pleading expression for the Harbinger not to murder me. Cassie's brow had twisted with scrutiny and her mouth had pursed into a pout; this didn't look good for little Cal.

"A few weeks ago? And there are no others?" I shook my head, shouldering Genesee back with the motion. Cassie's eyebrows lifted now. "None?"

"It's not like _paien _are lining up to sleep with a half Auphe."

"But your best friend is a puck, where the hell was he?"

I tilted my head in confusion. Where the hell was she going with this? "Actually, Robin hates Genesee and told me explicitly not to sleep with her."

Cassie rolled her dark eyes and turned fully back to the bar. "Some puck, monogamy's making him soft. He should have taken you out to a strip club three months after I 'died' tops."

"Wait." I shoved Genesee back this time, shooting her a vicious glare for being so handsy. Apparently, my reputation still preceded me a little, because she backed off with a start. I turned back to my baffling girlfriend. "You're mad at me for not sleeping with _more_ girls?"

"Cal, you thought I was dead. Eight months is a pretty extensive mourning period for one that was actively trying to erase his lover from memory. Of course, I'm not going to be mad at you for moving on," Cassie paused and gave a little shrug. "Of course, I'm also glad that this bitch was the only one you fucked."

"Excuse me?"

I wanted nothing more than to slide off the barstool in that moment. Genesee's tone, the glint in Cassie's eyes…there was about to be a cat fight and with Cassie that meant a lot of blood. Instead, I squared off with the bar between them, staring forward and slinging back my beer. I was pretty sure Cassie wouldn't hurt me now and Genesee hadn't really done anything to get her hacked up by Auphe claws.

"I don't believe you know me well enough to be slinging inappropriate insults."

Cassie let off a jaunty laugh. "Really? I suppose you don't remember me then. I remember you though, _Cassandra_." And shit just managed to get worse.

"So what was the emergency?" I cut in, blocking their view of each other, by leaning on the bar, facing Castiella. If Robin hated her for whatever evil misdeeds Genesee, or whatever her real name was, did Cassie – being half peri – would probably loath her. Cas wasn't above kill to survive and keep her loved ones alive, but just for the hell of it? No way.

Genesee hopped off her seat with the quick grace of a fox pouncing. She sidled around me to address Cassie more directly and she made sure that when she used my barstool to brace herself as she leaned over her hand right was against my crotch. The other hand, to make matters more uncomfortably arousing, was touching one finger to Cassie's chin, forcing my lover's mouth to tilt dangerously close to Genesee's. The two of them were breathtaking together and I wasn't the only one gawking either. Some stared in anticipation of two gorgeous women kissing and some in the excitement of an amazing fight about to take place. Danyael expected the fight since he already had the aluminum bat out, held at his side.

"I do remember you, Castiella, but I remember you soaked in mud and blood. It was a good look." Both their eyes were hooded, Cassie's might have been more for anger, but it still gave the bedroom sensuality to the situation and I couldn't help but react to it. Genesee's lips slid in to a wicked smile when she felt it. "I also remember how beautifully you sang under Sevintus. I'm sure you would sing even more beautifully for me, how about we go somewhere? Let Cal here listen in? He seems more the eager." She cupped me then. Not sure what kind of expression I made, but I doubt it looked pleasurable or pretty. If I didn't fear sudden movement triggering a she-battle, I would have jolted off the chair away from the Wendigo.

"Remove your hand from my boyfriend's cock," Cassie growled. It had a little high ring to it, the sound of nails to glass rumbling along with a dangerous bass.

"All I want it a good night, some fun. I'm more than happy to share that night with the both of you."

Cassie's upper lip pulled back a little. "You convinced Sevintus that murdering twelve innocent children and eating them was a good idea, I'm not eager to find out what constitutes a 'good night' in your book." Lightening-quick, Cassie grabbed Genesee's wrist from between my legs and yanked her arm straight and slammed the side of her head so Genesee went for a nosedive into the edge of the bar. Somehow my lover's leg managed to wind over the Wendigo's back. Genesee's arm was caught between Cassie's thighs, held fast by Cassie twisting it. My girlfriend's heel was braced to the bar next to Genesee's ear, pinning her there. "Don't touch my mate."

The strange, but impressive, maneuver only held Genesee for as long as it took the Wendigo to register what had happened. Then Cassie's leg fell to the foot bar of my chair through a plume of smoke. Genesee reformed in fast forward, suddenly behind Cassie, and shoving her against the bar by the back of her skull. I grabbed for my Eagle and touched it to Genesee's temple. It was a warning, one she could probably evade, but she acknowledged it, at least. "Your mate?" She cast a sidelong look at me. "An angel, Cal? You really are a masochist, aren't you?"

Cassie smashed my beer bottle against Genesee's head, then grabbed her up by the throat. I lifted my finger from the trigger for several reasons. One, Cassie's eyes were lava red which meant she could and would handle this how she saw fit no matter what I said. Two, it was interesting to have two women fight over me, I wasn't gonna lie. Three, Ishiah and Samyel had emerged from the back office area of the bar, both looking piqued. So four, a bar fight would just piss my boss off more and I'd rather not be blamed for this.

"He is my claim, I am his mate. Thank you for satisfying him while I was gone, but your services will no longer be needed." With that, Cassie shoved Genesee back. It was when she let go, that she let her long black talons flash out from her fingertips. Proving to Genesee that she was being nice with her demand since she didn't release them when she held Genesee's neck, but that she would kill the Wendigo if Genesee didn't retreat.

Assessing Cassie for a moment, Genesee casually resituated her clothes and wiped the blood from her busted upper lip. A nymph handed her a napkin, which she used as if the blood was just more beer doused over her clothes. "The Harbinger," she said with a coo. Her pale gray eyes settled on me again, smiling with that slyness. "Now, that is more like it." She turned from us without incident. A little more meddling than at the lot, but she was still retreating without _much_ of a fight. "My offer still stands. Just let me know when you're looking for one hell of a ride." She giggled and winked over her shoulder. "But only if you bring your mate."

I wasn't sure, who she was speaking to, but it didn't matter either way. Man, that bitch was crazy. Hot and sexy, but crazy. Cassie was staring at me; I could feel it without even looking. When I did she shook her head and motioned dubiously in the Wendigo's direction. "What is it with you and the certifiably insane chicks?"

"They're the only ones who will sleep with an Auphe." Cassie paused, then nodded in acceptance. I took up her hand that had broken the bottle to check it for glass, but she was unscathed. Even when Genesee had shoved her it was her chest that had taken most of the pressure against the bar. "You're okay?"

"Castiella, Caliban," Ishiah called before Cassie could respond. We both looked his way, but he didn't continue. He just made a quick motion for us to get to the back; it was an urgent motion. The kind a parent makes when their children were doing something bad and the kids were about to find out the consequence.

Cassie and I went around the bar to follow Ishiah to the hall that led to the bathrooms, his office, and the backdoor. Samyel remained in the threshold, staring at Castiella as if she were a ghost; he hadn't been around when Cassie first came in obviously. He rolled with it though giving a meek smile before he ducked behind the bar to help his fellow peris sling drinks. I was more concentrated on Ishiah's 'serious face'. My boss rarely departed from that default expression, but for some reason his mouth looked a little more pinched and his brow more wrinkled.

"In my defense, I didn't instigate that." I had to put it out there, more often than not I _was_ the one starting the bar fight, so I wanted it on the record that this one wasn't my fault. Not directly anyway. Ishiah glanced out at his bustling establishment as if searching for what damaged I'd caused, but all that remained of the fight were a few bits of glass on the ground from the broken bottle. That was a common occurrence here, so he probably saw nothing out of place. With a frown, Ishiah placed a hand on the small of Cassie's back and guided her more insistently away from the crowd. I didn't think it was because the patrons were still staring agape in her direction either. Those that had seen Cassie before had never seen her other half. She kept the Auphe well hidden and usually came off as a slightly amoral peri. Hopefully, her presence here didn't get back to the Vigil.

"We have more pressing matters to attend to than your usual impropriety in my bar," Ish said. He didn't take us to his office, but instead out the back door where he nearly shoved the two of us out into the cold.

"It's not worth kicking us out over, Uncle Ishiah. I barely hurt her," Cassie complained, trying for a chuckle. It died in her throat when Uncle gave her a stern glare.

"Go upstairs. Robin's waiting there. I would follow, but I believe it is better not to call too much attention to our situation with my absence. It is best they think I kicked you out."

I opened my mouth to ask what the hell he was talking about and why he was being so cryptic, but he held up a hand in front of my face, then turned and went back into the bar. I glanced over at Cassie, but she shrugged just as bewildered. I had to smile. With her standing there half-shivering in the cold without a coat and with an uncertain expression on her face, it reminded me of when I first met her (first remembered meeting her) out here behind the Ninth Circle. Her hair had been much longer – Robin had cut it to her collarbone and styled it in autumn-hued waves while I was out with the Vigil – and her physique a little healthier, but she still looked just as adorable as memory. "Just so you know, whatever surprise Goodfellow as waiting for us up there I'm vetoing a threesome with him since you denied one with Genesee."

Cassie didn't even miss a beat with her reply. "Deal."

Together we started up the stairs to the third level, which was new territory for me. "My brother's out too, so don't even ask."

"Fine. Delilah's out, unless you want her dead before the clothes can come off."

"Deal."

Goodfellow was waiting for us at the landing on the third floor. Leaned up against the bare white wall with his arms crossed and a huge grin plaster across his face. "Doth my ears deceive me or are you contemplating a threesome?"

"You're already out of the running, Robbie. Sorry," Cassie teased. He pouted comically, but even if he would seriously pause to consider should Cassie have invited him I doubted he would give in to the temptation. Ishiah meant too much to him, even I couldn't deny that now. "What's going on? Uncle Ish was being a little sketchy on the details."

"I figured as much considering you casually walked up here and didn't gate in two seconds." Robin opened the door to a studio apartment that looked more like a hostel. He tapped his finger to his lips to indicate that either someone needed to remain undisturbed or that there was a sleeping dragon inside. "He still unconscious, but Samyel did a decent job fixing him up so he should recover well. Your relatives weren't very forgiving of his disobedience."

The puck was being just as ambiguous as his peri lover, but when we saw 'him' there was no explanation required. Cassie's hand shot out to grip mine at the wrist with nothing short of a silent gasp. I was pretty much speechless as well, reacting only when her knees gave out and she dropped. I moved to help her back up, but she crawled the few inches to the edge of the cot Goodfellow had led us to.

On the bed, one of several that lined the outer walls of the room, a boy that looked incredibly like the Dante of my nightmares and consequently like me laid still and sheet white. There was a purple bruise highlighting one cheekbone, but other than that he looked already dead. If it weren't for his rising chest and the labored flutter of air escaping his mouth, I would have thought my best friend was forcing me to watch my son die again.

"Uncanny, isn't it?" Robin chuckled at my shoulder. He stood near the foot of the bed with me, leaning to the metal bar with an excited smile on his face. "He'd be a clone of you if it weren't for those full, perfectly bowed lips of his."

"You will have nothing to do with those lips, understood?" I growled.

Robin only smiled wider. He rocked back on his heels, playfully. "That fatherly instinct kicks in quickly, I see."

I looked back at my son – no denying it now – lying on the bed. The sheets were tucked over most of him so I couldn't see his condition, but when Cassie wriggled his hand out from under the sheet so she could hold it, I could see bandages stained murky pink wrapped around his arm. "Samyel found him?"

"He found Samyel," Goodfellow explained. "Wandered into the Ninth looking for safe shelter. Samyel doesn't think he knew you were here. Just a little lost blackbird."

"What is his condition?" Cassie asked in a whisper. Her dark eyes fixed on her best friend, already wet with tears. I moved closer to rest a hand on her shoulder, reminding her to both keep calm and that she wasn't alone in any of this.

"Moderate to poor. Judging by the three inch black claw Samyel wrenched out of the boy, it was a battle for freedom from the Auphe he fought. The puncture wounds on his back tore through one of his lung, hence the wheezing, but other than those and a few deep lacerations on his leg and side he came out on top." Goodfellow paused and motioned toward the little kitchen tucked away in one corner of the basic studio apartment. "It seems Samyel was in the beginning stages of making some tea, would any of you care for some?" When we didn't respond he shrugged and moved off to make some for himself.

I knelt beside my girlfriend and dropped my forehead to the crown of her dark blond and auburn hair. Like Niko, I didn't like coincidence and he had been right before when he questioned the events around us that I claimed probably had nothing to do with me. The Vigil facility exploding had been Cassie getting kidnapped, Grimm's attack on the peris had been because of Dante, and his taunting has been truth, so I didn't really like the idea of rolling with the concept that my son 'just happened' to wander into the very bar I worked in. Good things didn't happen to me; they just didn't…but they were and that didn't sit well. The last time I'd gotten comfortable with the idea of a family (more than just Nik) that family was 'murdered' in front of me.

As if reading my mind, Cassie took my hand and placed it over Dante's. I could feel his index finger twitch, his skin held warmth. I could feel the pulse and the rattle in his lungs. I could smell him. The blood of the Auphe and his own foxglove tang. I took in a deep breath through my nose and gripped his fingers briefly. "Why am I still waiting for him to jump up and murder us?"

Cassie leaned into me, nuzzling against my throat. Her lashes grazed my skin when she closed her eyes and her breath danced over my collarbone. "He's not going to murder us, Cal. You expect the worse, what have I told you about expecting?" I smirked at that. Movement behind us made me shift my gaze, but it was only Goodfellow circling around the room to collect two chairs and set them by the bed. I rose and gave him a nod in thanks, settling in the uncomfortable desk chair for what I knew would be a long while. Cassie refused the other, remaining in her curled up position against the edge of the cot. Neither of us argued with her even if it probably wasn't good for a pregnant woman to be kneeling on a cold concrete floor.

Goodfellow draped a sheet over her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. As he passed me he tapped the side of my head with his knuckles, whispering, "When the tea is ready get her to drink some. It's Chamomile; it should calm her nerves. It would probably do Dante some good too when he's awake."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

Robin smiled, in a swift gesture he pulled out his cell phone and captured a picture of Dante and Cassie (and possibly half of me). "I'm going to go inform Uncle Niko and Aunt Promise that they should get the guest room ready for a new tenant." My mouth twitched to an almost smile and I punched him lightly in the side as he departed. He knew a thank you when he got one from me, even if it wasn't verbal.

I watched Cassie and Dante for a while. Her soft gaze and wet eyes, the little movement of her thumb across the back of his hand. She hummed to him, something like a lullaby. If the tune had words it didn't need them to be hauntingly beautiful. I could see both of us in his features. He mostly looked like me, which, since I was the man, was probably good thing. But he had her mouth, as the perverted puck pointed out, and a small upturn at the end of his nose. It made him just slightly more effeminate and honestly more beautiful.

"Shit." Cassie glanced back at me at my soft curse. I shifted in my seat and tried not to listen to my legs which were twitching to run. "I was screwing up with a two-year-old what the hell am I supposed to do with a teenager?"

She chuckled. "You were a teenager not long ago, Cali. I think you can figure it out." She reached over and squeezed my thigh. "We'll figure it out."

"Mom?" At that pitifully weak whisper, my heart seized. I leaned forward to the edge of my chair, watching Dante's eyes peel open. I hoped Robin told Nik to bring the good painkillers, because I knew how that twisted up expression felt. His eyes were still gray, the exact shade of Niko and mine, and when they fell on me – after taking in his mother at his side – they widened big, round, and more innocent than I'd ever believed they could be. All my nightmares were bullshit. All my reserve vanished. And all it took was a pain-idled smile and a single-syllable question full of hope. "Dad?"

It was a constant reminder lately, the fact that I couldn't remember anything those two years I was stuck in Tumulus. With Cassie and even random peris spouting off little facts about the Auphe constantly, my ineptitude was really showing. They were like the distant relatives you _sometimes_ remembered the name of. I didn't know their culture – for the longest time I didn't even know they had one. Hell, for a while there I didn't even noticed they were gendered, which they would have to be since one of them banged my mother to have me, but it never seemed imperative to know. I knew how to kill them and I knew how to avoid them, those basics were all I needed. But that was going to have to chance now, like everything else in my life.

Dante remembered. Cassie knew better than anyone. The Auphe were a part of their lives (or their history) whether we liked it or not. It was better I learned that the females were the queens and the males the drones, because then I understood why even the controlled monster within deferred to Castiella with respect. She was my mate, my queen, and my lover. I needed to know that the Auphe basically abandoned their young with the exception of the hybrids they created for future purpose. It wasn't in an Auphe's nature to even bother protecting their offspring. If the Auphling was killed by the elements or another infant, well, they were just not the fittest and would have been eaten eventually anyway. So the vicious paternal instinct I felt toward Dante was left unexplained. Cassie just claimed it was the human in me causing that reaction and, by her depiction of the Auphling nests she used to ambush, she was probably right. I needed to know these things, because it was the only way to understand what my son had gone through and it was the only way to undo the damage those assholes imprinted on him.

Our little blackbird didn't last very long for conversation in the apartment above the Ninth Circle. There was at least a full day between Nova's death and his appearance here, which meant he'd been bleeding like that for twenty four hours and traveling quite a distance. It was a wonder he was alive let alone conscious for more than a second. It was also comforting to see him let sleep take him in our presence. That was an unspoken trust, one we apparently never lost.

After informing Robin, I gathered Cassie against me and grasped Dante's hand to wrap a gate around the three of us. It was a risk, but one I was willing to take. Leaving the bar and taking a cab, just left so many opportunities for the Vigil or the Auphe to stalk us that I would rather let the Auphe feel my gate and keep them guessing on whose it was. Niko's expression when we appeared in my bedroom, where he waited, was classic. Numb for a second with wide eyes and a slack-jaw, he actually stumbled a step as he pulled himself out of his stupor. The three of us carted Dante into the guest room closest to mine and tucked him in. He slept through the whole damn thing. Cas immediately curled up in the soft rocking chair next to the bed, hunkering down for a restless vigil over him. Returning the favor, it seemed, because it was pretty obvious now that he had stolen her away from Grimm the first time and watched over her in the farm house.

I stood for a while in the frame of the door, trying to figure out if my mind was racing too fast for me to focus or if it was just blank. The impossible happened and, well, it couldn't be real. My lover was with me, vibrant and devoted. My son was alive, breathing, and capable of emotion. My brother was at my shoulder – always at my side – letting me feel the solid essence of his support and protection. "You know what would be the cherry on top?" I said to Nik. He hummed his inquisition. "Grimm's head on the mantle."

"North Brother Island."

The soft mutter came from Dante, whom we all thought was passed out. His eyes were slits when he attempted to open them, so either he'd stirred at my voice or he had just been resting his eyes this whole time. I wouldn't blame him. Niko didn't sleep belly up in front of his father he hadn't seen for twenty-five years, why would my son? "Fifth house, white shutters…he's wounded. I couldn't kill him in my state." I chuckled; that last statement sounded like an apology. He was saying sorry for not picking him off when he could.

Cassie hushed out son, telling him to go back to sleep. Once he closed his eyes, she stood from her chair, walked over to me, and grabbed me up by the front of my jacket, which I hadn't take off since leaving for the Vigil meeting. Her dark eyes glinted gold for a moment. Her lips captured mine rather intensely and when she pulled away she released me like she was letting go of a kite. "Kill him. Now."

A wicked grin slid across my face. _My queen, my mate, this is the female that will take the world with me._ Yeah, I could see it too. In that unwavering golden gaze so sure, so determined, and so ready to see blood shed. If we were joined and the leashes were removed from our inner demons…damn, the world would burn. "As you wish."

She made a chiding noise before I could open the gate that would let me travel to the bridge closest to where I was pretty sure North Brother Island was. It was the kind of sound a person makes when their dog tries to grab food off the counter or when a child tries to take something they were told not to. Cassie just pointed at Niko and said, "take your brother," as if he were tagging along.

I couldn't be mad. It was more amusing than offensive. I leaned down and stole another kiss before asking, "You want a trophy?"

"Just you and Niko home and safe." I felt comfortable with that. Finally, I felt comfortable leaving her here, protecting our son and Promise. It wasn't that the threats were less now; I just knew it didn't matter. Everything would be fine and if it wasn't, we would just have to adapt...or kill whoever was screwing things up for us.

So, after Niko armored up, I took my brother to the Bronx side of the East River and he directed me to the island. Too bad it was a bust. I could smell them in the house Dante had sited. There were muddy and bloodstained footprints every where from the little baby hellions, but there were no Bae and no Grimm inside. Just the smothered remains of a fire, blood stains on a ratty arm chair, and a lingering scent. I sighed and kicked down the front door in frustration on our way out. We missed the window. Injured enough that he didn't even bother attacking my son, hiding under our noses, and we missed it.

"Cal," Niko called softly. He had left the house before me, convinced there was nothing here the moment we stepped onto the uninhabited patch of land. Someone, probably Niko, had told me the woman accused of being Typhoid Mary had been quarantined here and outside of that time it had just been handed over to nature. Some of that nature was chowing down happily on a messy carcass a few feet from my brother around the side of the house. They were strixies; Niko also said that the blood-thirsty owls resided here every winter before moving north into Canada for the summer. They liked the cold and apparently had no qualms with the bitter taste of Auphe blood like most. It was a Bae they were chomping, cooing gleefully and lifting their heads to shimmy blood and slivers of meat down their throats.

"Someone didn't make the cut," I muttered.

Without a word and without taking his eyes off the strixies, Niko held out his fisted hand to offer me whatever he was holding. I presented my palm and he dropped three shell casings within. "This island has been abandoned since the fifties, I don't believe they used M16 cartridges then."

"M4 carbine cartridges and not until '63," I replied, inspecting the casings. Niko motioned to the strixies or more likely their meal. "Shot?"

My brother nodded. "There are remnants of another four Bae on the other side of the building. There are also tire tracks in the snow on the street. Most likely from a four-wheeler with snow-tread." He took me up by my jacket lapel and guided me around the house so I could peer into the dense trees that had overtaken this island.

Despite the forest I could see through to the water that surrounded since the branches were bare. What Niko was pointing at was a New York Fireboat scooting away from the island like it just stole something. I felt that metaphor sink to the pit of my stomach. "No fucking way."

Niko frowned and dropped his hand to his side. It was a conclusion to jump to, but one that made prefect sense and one we obviously shared. The fireboat wasn't rushing to any fire, I could be sure of that. The Vigil needed a cooperative half-Auphe and Grimm needed allies stupid enough to think he would cooperate. I shook my head. Maybe it wouldn't be Cassie and I that burned the world to the ground. "Should I?"

"No," Niko replied before I could expand on my question. He didn't want me gating onto the boat and taking it into the water. He didn't want me taking on however many carbines they had at their disposal too probably. Niko slung his arm over my shoulder and spun me around to face the lights of LaGuardia Airport and Riker's Island. I still had the great desire to hop on board the Vigil ship and take Grimm out until Niko said his next words. "Let's go home. Our family's waiting."

Then, well, I just couldn't say no to that.


	27. Epilogue - Golden Boy

**GOLDEN BOY**

_I woke for the third day in a room they called mine. A guest room decorated tastefully with minimalistic furniture in black and modern monochrome photos of historical moments. A footprint imprinted on the first moon landing, a man standing before military tanks in Tiananmen Square, the Hindenburg aflame, and Martin Luther King Jr. standing before a crowd of people he spoke for. I spend hours staring at them and just as long researching each one, the day I felt too weak to leave the bed. It didn't take long for me to recuperate and they gave me as much space as their hearts would allow in the meantime._

_They placed me in this room, my parents less than ten feet from me, and told me I was to make it 'my own'. At the moment, that only meant my laptop sat on the small black desk in the corner and my clothes were rumpled in the drawers instead of a duffel bag. Still, the feeling of stretching from a comfortable bed and having the ability to turn the knob of my door and exit into a world I was free to explore felt phenomenal._

_I didn't feel the need to explore though, there was too much to experience and learn in the confides of this sprawling penthouse. Every passing glance and word exchanged established another layer to this family surrounding me... Family? Yes, family; it was a strange word, mostly because it was often more a sentiment than a blood or genetic bond. My 'family' was no different. Or perhaps very different. They were not short on smiles for me either and not the vicious baring of metal teeth the Auphe showed. _These were smiles like Nova's; warm and expressing positive emotions regarding my presence.

"Dante, put a shirt on. You're making me look bad." I glanced down at myself as I left my room. My attire was lacking for the winter weather outside, but the air was warm in the apartment with so many bodies. I wasn't sure why my father voiced the complaint either. Though I wasn't wearing a shirt, my legs were covered in cotton pants he had gave me and it was quite proper attire for indoors from what I'd read.

If it was due to self-esteem and vanity, there was also no reason for that. "Your physique is similar to mine," I responded as I approached the kitchen island; a structure my family often congregated around. "As a hunter you have toned the same muscle groups as I have. You also have a similar percentage of body fat, which is minimal."

I sat at one of the vacant barstools next to my mother and glanced at the others in the room. The vampire named Promise was sitting in one of the chairs at the kitchenette just behind us. She still recovered from an attack from Grimm, though I could see little effect aside from some slight discoloration of her pale skin around her cheekbone, neck and arm on her left side.

My uncle, Niko, sat with her utilizing a laptop of the same brand as mine to read the paper on the internet. Behind the island, my father was slicing bagels while their friend, a puck named Robin, fried eggs at the stove; the unfortunate scent of cooked bacon hung in the air as well. Robin looked identical to Hob with the exception of the friend undertones of his smile and voice –_ perhaps my memory of him when I was a child correlated when I saw Hob. Pucks were known to look every inch the same as another, individualizing through body language and personal style. I did realize that Hob's stories might have been less than accurate when Robin spoke of the same events with much different nuances. Pucks were also known to embellish._

Regardless, everyone in the room had little need to envy my physique. All were trim and well-muscled. Such was a necessity when battling to survive. "Actually we are an anomaly when one considers the statistics of obesity in America." And considering Niko had stitched up my sides with precision and my father helped me bathe more adequately I doubt my partial nudity even distracted.

"Half of us pre-date America, sweetheart." The affectionate nickname drew my attention to my mother. Still lethargic from her pregnancy, but no longer feeling the limitation of the wounds Grimm gave her, she was more vibrant than ever. _I'd heard the phrase that a smile could be contagious, but never gave it credence until my mother smiled at me._ Or laughed. Her laugh was just as beautiful as Nova's and _I preferred it much more than the screams of my memory._

_I'd told them about Nova, among other things. I revealed much to them in trust I didn't fully comprehend. There was no judgment and very little pity, but there seemed to be much guilt. I hadn't been prepared to ask the reason for that guilt before. Not when I woke above the bar with them at my bedside nor when they brought me to their home and assured me I belonged here. Apparently, they had expected me to be much older and when I confirmed I was no older than fifteen, they determined I needed to remain with them until I was of age. _They chose their words carefully when discussing this. They hadn't wanted to claim they were caging me_. I was to live my life with them, but until I could make experienced choices and understand the consequences they would be guiding me. _I didn't comment_. _ From what I'd heard of their stories, I'd already surpassed my father on that respect._ Once I was of age, I was free to do as I pleased, but they made sure I understood if it pleased me I never had to leave them._

I was unable to ask them about their guilt before; for three days I wasn't ready to hear the truth, but when my father set a plate of two fried eggs and a slice of peppered tomato in front of me I felt the time was right. Maybe it was the consideration for my tastes. _When I told them I didn't eat meat, I needn't explain. My mother scraped the pork off my dinner plate and heaped on vegetables without a word. She knew what I had tasted on my tongue. As had my father, who made sure no other meat touched my meals. I'd already told them eggs were not one of my aversions. The unfertilized embryos didn't cause the same reaction as the crush of muscle between my teeth._

It was either that consideration or the fact that like every other time I was served first. I came first, somehow. I took up my fork, grazing it over the skin of the tomato. I watched my father from the tops of my eyes and when I couldn't confirm the best time to speak, I just waited for the first lull. "Did you gift me to them?"

My mother froze before breaking the yoke on her own fried egg. My father gave me a perplexed look. "Gift what?"

"No," my mother whispered. She put down her fork and took up my hand to pull my gaze to hers. Her dark eyes were thinned by the pained squint of her eyelids. "Dante, we thought you had been killed…"

"Oh, _give_," my father proclaimed, finally comprehending the words, then quickly understanding the question. His eyes widened and he spoke forcefully, so much that his belief couldn't be question. "Ace, if we had known the Auphe had taken you, you wouldn't have been there for more than a few seconds before we murdered them all and took you back."

Belief in his words may have been unquestionable, but the concept was ludicrous. "That is physically impossible even with the use of gates. Killing a single Auphe would take at least a few seconds and that is being optimistic." I took in a breath since my lungs still couldn't expand completely. "There are several hundred Auphe in Tumulus. Even if you are basing that answer on the Tumulus equivalent of three seconds, and that is assuming you mean three by 'a few'," another breath. My father was trying to hold in a smile; I could see the twitching at the side of his mouth. "That still isn't an adequate time to dispatch that many Auphe…you were being metaphoric." I realized this about the moment his smile broke out.

My mother didn't bother hiding her smile as she leaned over and kissed my temple. "We would have done anything to get you back, Dante. We love you so much."

I stared at her for a long moment, glancing back at my uncle and his companion; this entire family of sentimental bond that no blood could break. "I thought the only way I could have what was once lost returned to me was to reach Heaven, and I knew I would never be welcomed there. So I never once entertained the notion that I'd find my parents."

My father snorted and swallowed a piece of his bagel. "Well, Heaven is bullshit anyway. So welcome home."

"Cal!" my mother scolded even through a smile. I couldn't help but grin as well; I wasn't innocent, despite them thinking I could have been much more corrupt. No one living with the Auphe could be innocent. But from what they told me if I had remained in Tumulus or if they had different plans for me, my psyche might not be as stable as it was today.

"I also think you should come clean about your affair with my brother, because this kid is much too smart to be mine," my father declared, pointing a finger in my mother's face. She rolled her eyes in good humor and pushed the digit away.

I actually understood that one as a joke before making a fool of myself, but that didn't stop me from attempting one of my own. "Then perhaps I am the poster child of what you could accomplish if you read books with words instead of pictures."

There was a moment of silence; I felt just made a fool of myself anyway, then my mother's mouth gaped open, before she covered it and almost doubled over laughing. My father look shocked for two terrifying seconds where I thought I might have ruined the joke by simply insulting him, then his let off a tight laugh and his mouth formed a grin. "Damn…my own son."

Robin was knelt by the stove, hysterical at my father's expense. And I could even hear muffled amusement from Niko and Promise. Pride swelled in my chest. I sat up in my chair, showing the smile Nova had taught me.

"That's it." My father pulled Robin off the ground and shoved him toward the front door. "You have to leave. That burn was your fault. I know it." I hadn't seen anyone get burned, but I assumed that was another missed turn of phrase, since everyone was still laughing. He pointed at me, trying to give a threatening look that just appeared odd with a quirked grin. "And you! Look at that pride. I take that back, you are my son."

I didn't have to force the smile at those words. I was his son. And that was something the Auphe could never take from me. Heaven didn't want me, hell feared me, but that was fine. I was happy right where I was. Home.


End file.
